


Lost

by M34GS



Series: Haikyuu! Merperson AU [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Major Character Injuries, Protective Bokuto Koutarou, Protective Karasuno Volleyball Club, Protective Kuroo Tetsurou, Violence, merperson au, protective oikawa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-01-27 06:09:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 33,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21387379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M34GS/pseuds/M34GS
Summary: Shouyou is a vibrant, energetic, curious young merperson. While goofing off with Yu and Tobio one day, he ends up captured by humans who drag him away from his Pod. Now, he has to find a way home and rejoin his Pod, but that is easier said than done.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Series: Haikyuu! Merperson AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1781167
Comments: 70
Kudos: 210





	1. Taken

Shouyou flitted through the water with a laugh as he swam past Tobio and Yuu. With a frustrated growl, Tobio shot after him in an effort to keep up. Yuu grinned and sped up as well. Shouyou paused at the edge of a reef and looked out at the vast expanse of water. He could see many boats scattered about, some large and some small. His brilliant orange tail flicked back and forth as he watched the boats with shining hazel eyes.

“Dummy, get back here! It’s dangerous!” Tobio shouted at him. Shouyou’s webbed ears flicked once at the noise, an acknowledgement that he heard him, but his gaze remained fixed on the boats.

“Shouyou! Come back,” Yuu called. He hovered just behind Tobio, whose tail was steadily turning from blue to red at being ignored. “It’s not safe and you know it.” Shouyou didn’t move. “I’m older than you, remember! You’re supposed to listen to me. Daichi and Koushi won’t be happy if you don’t! They’ll tell Ukai!” At this, Shouyou reluctantly turned and swam his way over to the other two.

“I just wanna watch them,” he whined with a pout. Tobio smacked him on the back of the head.

“Yeah right! You were looking ready to swim right out up to them,” he retorted with a scowl. Shouyou glared back at him and rubbed his head where the other hit him.

“I was _not_,” he replied and crossed his arms, tongue stuck out like a child. Yuu laughed.

“Come on, you two. Don’t fight!” He grinned at them, but the two remained glaring at each other. “Hey, why don’t we have a competition? See who can find the most interesting fish?” At the word ‘competition’ the other two perked up and turned to Yuu.

“That sounds fun!” Shouyou exclaimed. His bright orange tail took on a lighter shade and shimmered with excitement. Tobio’s tail was back to its original shade of blue and he nodded. Yuu’s grin grew.

“Alright, whoever finds the most exciting and colourful fish on this reef wins, starting…..NOW!” He darted off, and his yellow tail flashed through the water. Tobio smirked and Shouyou laughed. They split up and started hunting through the fish they saw, looking for the most colourful one.

Shouyou scanned over the various colourful fish. He saw blues, pinks, oranges, and yellows. Suddenly, his eye caught on one; a fish with a bright yellow tail. The colour merged onto its body, where it met with a beautiful vibrant purple that covered the fish’s head. Excited, he inched forward, determined to catch it. In his excitement, he didn’t notice the spines of another fish near his tail. As his fins fluttered over the unseen fish, they made contact with the spines and he yelped at the sting as venom was injected into his tail. His cry startled the fish in front of him. In a second, he could imagine the smug look on Tobio’s face when he failed, and was determined to win. This fish would get him the win. Ignoring the pain, Shouyou shot forward and gave chase to the fish. It swam away from him, and subsequently, the reef.

The fish flashed through the water in front of him and wove in and out of boats and other fish. Shouyou managed to keep up fairly well, he _is _the fastest swimmer in the Pod, after all. Behind him, he could hear Yuu and Tobio shouting, but he ignored them, completely focussed on his prey. Shadows surrounded him abruptly, and a pile of fish rose up from beneath him, silver and thrashing. Shouyou glanced around and started to panic as he realized it was a net that rose around him. He shot toward the side, but it was too late. There was no space small enough for him to slip through. Tobio and Yuu were rapidly approaching the boat, but before they could reach him, Shouyou was lifted into the air with the rest of the fish. Shouyou tried to make himself smaller, but in his pain and panic he couldn’t focus and ended up simply thrashing around as he was dropped onto the deck of the fishing boat.

Loud exclamations frightened Shouyou as multiple humans suddenly crowded forward. He was dragged from the net and his arms were tied together behind his back with a rope. His gills flared and he choked and gasped as his body made the transition from breathing underwater to breathing air. It was always painful. He was forced to sit up, tail in front of him. His tail paled in fear until it was almost white. The humans were grinning and cheering. Shouyou struggled to back up as far as he could, but he didn’t get far before he felt a wall behind him. There were a few loud shouts, and then the entire boat lurched. Shouyou was thrown off balance and ended up lying on the deck of the boat. He struggled to right himself, but couldn’t find his balance. His heart hammered in his chest as all the tales of humans his mother had told him crept into his mind; how they descaled mers and stole their fins, then dumped them back in the ocean to die, how some mer were considered so beautiful they were put on display for other humans to look at, never to return to their home, how others were kept on ships as good-luck charms and never again allowed to see anything more than their own tiny room on the ship. He shouted and screeched and cried out in the mer tongue for help, but nobody answered his pleas. The crew men, deciding they didn’t want to listen to his mournful cries, gagged him. Shouyou struggled helplessly until he was too tired. His tail still stung, his throat was raw, his skin felt dry, and he had an undeniable hunger starting in his belly. A human had apparently been appointed to guard him, so he couldn’t even shift to try and escape. Shouyou felt his eyes sting. Water slid out of them and down his cheeks, which initially startled the mer, but he remembered one of his podmates saying something about that, how above water, water could come out of their eyes if they were distressed. He shut his eyes and let the water flow down his cheeks.

***

Tobio and Yuu swam as hard as they could after the boat that took Shouyou, but it was too fast for them. They dodged and wove between the other boats, with all their nets, but by the time they got clear, the boat was too far for them to follow. There were several boats all in the far distance, and the two had no idea to tell which one was the one that had Shouyou from this far away.

“Damn it!” Tobio cried out in exasperation. He clenched his webbed hands into fists and glared at the open water before them. Yuu ground his teeth together. He growled and ran his fingers through his hair angrily. Then he turned around.

“Come on, Tobio,” he hollered over his shoulder. Tobio stared at him.

“What?! No! NO! We _can’t _leave him!!” he protested, his tail flashed an angry red. Yuu’s own tail was growing steadily darker as he stopped and faced Tobio.

“We’re not leaving him! But the two of us can’t hope to find and take on that boat and crew on our own! It’s already much faster than we are. We need to track it, find where it makes port, and hope that Shou is still alive! But to do that we should have a bigger group! It’s not safe with just two of us,” Yuu replied. His eyes were sharp and dangerous. Tobio knew better than to disobey. “Come on. Let’s do this as fast as we can.” Tobio nodded and followed Yuu as he sprinted home.


	2. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuu and Tobio alert the pod to Shouyou's capture.
> 
> Shouyou works on his escape from the boat.
> 
> Kenma has a strange premonition.

Yuu was winded by the time he reached the rest of the pod. Tobio kept pace with him easily. As soon as he could see a familiar figure, he gasped out, “As…Asa…A...Asahi….A-AsaHIIIII!” The figure started and turned toward the fast approaching mer. “Asahi-” Yuu’s gills flared as he tried to breathe, “h-help!” He hurled himself at the other. Asahi caught Yu and held him at arm’s length as he tried to catch his breath.

“What’s wrong? What happened? Where’s Shouyou?” Asahi asked. Yuu shook his head. Tobio spoke up.

“Shouyou got captured by humans,” he answered. Asahi tensed. Yuu was still gasping, trying to speak.

“Where?”

“A-at…the reef,” Yuu finally choked out. “Hurry, we have to tell Ukai.” Asahi nodded.

“Tobio, let’s go.” Asahi tucked Yuu under his arm, the other still exhausted. Tobio followed them at a brisk pace. As they passed through, other merfolk began to follow them, curious and worried. Finally, they were in front of their Pod Head’s home. “Ukai!” he hollered. The tall, broad figure of their leader swam out the entrance. He took in the condition of the pod members in front of him.

“What’s going on?” He demanded as he crossed his arms.

“Shouyou’s been taken by humans!” A collective gasp followed Asahi’s words.

“What? Shouyou?! I thought Yuu was watching him and Tobio!” exclaimed a voice. Ryunosuke Tanaka swam forward and stared at his friend. “Yuu, what happened?” Yuu’s tail was flashing between colours, pale yellow and dark red and a dark muddy brown. He shook his head and gripped Asahi’s arm tightly.

“I- it wasn’t…I didn’t mean…there-there wasn’t,” he stammered. Asahi placed a hand on his head and patted his hair as he struggled to speak. Finally, the words flew out. “We were playing by the reef, and Tobio and Shouyou were getting in an argument. So I suggested we look for the most unique fish, just a competition and stuff, and- and they agreed. But then something happened, and…I don’t know what…just that Shouyou c-cried- cried out. Then he was chasing something toward the boats, and-and-and h-he got caught. In a net. And then, he-” Yuu broke off and shook his head. “The net went up and he was in it, and we were trying to get there, but the boat moved, and it was too fast, and we…we lost him.” The last words were spoken in a whisper.

“What did the boat look like?” Ukai demanded.

“It was big and white,” Tobio answered. “From what I could see, it had some strange markings above the water line. I tried to memorize what they looked like.”

“Show me.”

Tobio grabbed some stray algae and arranged it on the ocean floor into the form of the markings he saw. It didn’t last long, but those who saw it committed it to memory:

**SHIRAT**

“That’s as much as I could see before they moved on,” he reported.

“What does it mean?” a new voice asked. Tadashi swam forward.

“Doesn’t matter,” came another voice. It was Daichi, with Koushi next to him. “We need to go after him.” He looked at Ukai with a determined expression, as if challenging him to deny it. Ukai held his gaze.

“I will assign teams. We will search in groups. Absolutely no one is to go alone. If you find the boat with those markings, send one member to collect the rest and tail it to its dock,” Ukai announced. “No one is to engage the humans until I say so. Understood?” They all nodded. “Good.”

***

Shouyou gasped in pain. He shivered and coughed. Pain shot up his tail from the fins. His stomach growled. It had been two days. His skin was so dry. The bucket of water dumped on him every few hours wasn’t near enough to keep him hydrated. He shifted and squirmed, uncomfortable. Shouyou swallowed and glanced wearily at the guard. He barely had any energy, but he needed to try to stay awake. It was a waiting game. He was sure one of them would have a lapse in concentration at some point, so he continued to watch.

In the middle of the night, he was rewarded. The man watching him yawned and leaned back. He glanced at Shouyou, who tried to look as though he was asleep without fully closing his eyes. It must have worked, because the guard leaned back more and closed his eyes. Shouyou perked up. He moved carefully, his tail still painful and the fins were swollen. He shifted his size, shrinking himself just enough that the bindings on his wrists fell away. He still needed to be large enough to reach the railing. Quickly but cautiously, he dragged himself to the railing. With a grin, he gripped it and started to pull himself up. A sudden cry made him lose his grip and drop to the deck. The guard had opened his eyes and saw that Shouyou was no longer bound in front of him. He looked around frantically and Shouyou grabbed the railing again to heave himself upward. His guard saw him and leaped at him. His added weight caused Shouyou to slip back down and he hit his head on the rail.

Shouyou cried out in pain. His vision was filled with black spots. He tried to blink them away frantically as he shoved at the body that had hold of him. He could hear other shouts and footsteps coming closer. Shouyou scrabbled at the rail and managed to grip it. He grunted as he heaved himself up, the human still holding onto him. He shook his body and shoved at the human with his free hand. One of his fingers connected with something soft and squishy on the human’s face and the human yelped and let go of him. Shouyou wasted no time and threw himself over the railing. He swam away as fast as he could, aware the boat was turning to follow him.

“Help! Someone! Daichi! Koshi! Yu!” He shrieked as he desperately clawed his way through the water. “Tobio! SOMEONE HELP ME!!!” No one responded to his cries. He dove deeper and deeper in an attempt to lose the humans. He knew they could lower their nets far, so he scanned and searched for any crevice he could shove himself in to wait them out. As soon as he found one, he stuffed himself inside of it as far as he could and waited. His heart hammered in his chest. He could feel the vibrations of the boat through the water drawing closer and closer, and then it was right over top of him. Shouyou squeezed his eyes shut and waited. Eventually, the vibrations grew more and more distant until he couldn’t feel them anymore. His lips trembled, but his heart rate slowed. He gripped his orange hair as he tried to slow his breathing. His tail was burning, it’s colour a sickly pale green. Once his breathing was under control, Shouyou knew he had to get help for his tail. He crawled out of his little hole and let out a high-pitched, questioning trill. It echoed in the water and came back to him. No one answered. He swam for a ways and tried again. Still nothing. Exhausted, he grabbed a rock and clung to it as he rested for a moment. Then he forced himself onward, still calling out and still receiving no response.

***

_Beautiful warm brown eyes, bright and gentle and happy. Orange hair framed a smiling face. A flash of a bright orange tail. Kenma couldn’t help but return the smile the other strange mer sent to him. The mer opened his mouth and Kenma waited to hear what he would say. What came out of his mouth, though, shocked him._

_ “HELP ME!” it was a painful scream and the other mer’s expression morphed into one of pain. His tail was a pale green and the left fin was swollen. His eyes were pained and tired. “PLEASE! HELP ME!”_

Kenma sat up abruptly and looked around. He was still in his home, in his nest of seaweed and algae. Tetsurou was gone already, but he had to be. Hunts started early. Kenma shook his head, but he was unable to get the image of the injured mer out of his mind. Frustration overcame him. He had no idea who that mer was, where they were, or even when the vision was from. Usually, there would be something that could indicate at least a time, but this vision was over too soon. He felt an urge to help them, but without even that information, it would be very difficult. Not for the first time, he wished his affinity was more reliable. Tetsurou’s at least was reliable in that it always provided a time. Sure, he couldn’t see or hear future events like Kenma could, he just got a vague sense that he needed to be somewhere, but it only happened exactly when he needed to go, and he could follow the feeling to where he needed to be. It had helped him save Kenma from danger more than once when he wandered obliviously too near to a shark or some other predator.

Kenma sighed and started to prepare for his day. He’d gotten used to not always being able to help out those in his visions, but he still didn’t like it. He cleaned his red tail gently before he went out to tend to their small garden.

A soft noise caught Kenma’s attention halfway through the day. He stopped what he was doing abruptly and turned about. He stayed still as possible and listened intently. He heard the fish swimming not far away. A whale far, far in the distance. And then-

“Help. Please.” A faint voice. Exhausted. Barely there. But he knew it at once. The voice from his dream. His eyes widened and his hands shook. “Please.” The voice came again. It was so far away. Kenma hesitated. It could be a trap. Humans had been known to replicate cries for help in order to lure merfolk to them, and could he be absolutely certain it was the voice from his dreams, and not just him wishing it was so that he could help them? Suddenly, a high-pitched, anxious trill rolled across the ocean floor, desperate, searching for someone to answer them, anyone. Kenma jolted into action. Humans be damned, he couldn’t _not_ respond to that call. He raced into his home and grabbed the basic medicinal supplies he always had ready in case Tetsurou was hurt in a hunt. Then he darted out the entrance and off toward the sound’s source. Another trill. Another cry. “Please.”

Kenma responded with his own call. “Don’t worry. I’m coming.” There was a long pause, then a soft, grateful trill sounded and Kenma doubled his pace. That was another thing about the humans, they never changed their bait calls when they got responses. They didn’t seem to understand how to adapt their responses. He had no doubt in his mind that this was the injured mer from his dream.


	3. Kenma and Tetsurou

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata meets two mermen. Will they help him, or chase him away?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: There's some graphic violence in this one.

Kenma stroked the hair of the sleeping mer. He’d found the orange-haired boy collapsed on the sea floor, nearly unconscious. Quickly, he tended to the injured merman’s tail, and then dragged him through the water back to his home. He placed the stranger in his comfortable nest and had searched through his shelves to find the more appropriate medicine. He knew what the problem was now, had seen similar injuries before, and knew how to treat it. Now the stranger’s breathing was easier, and some of his colour was returning, not just to his face, but to his tail as well. Kenma watched intently as some of the scales began to turn a pale orange.

After a while, the young merman stirred. Kenma shifted to watch him curiously. The boy opened his eyes and blinked slowly as he looked around. His eyes landed on Kenma and widened comically. He tried to swim back, but found his back against the wall. His eyes darted around the room. Kenma held his hands up in front of him in a placating gesture.

“Easy,” he stated slowly. The stranger’s eyes snapped back to his face and locked on him. “I’m not going to hurt you.” The stranger continued to stare at him. He noticed his tale had turned pale again, almost white. Kenma’s eyes returned to the stranger’s face. “My name is Kenma. I won’t hurt you.” Slowly, the stranger relaxed.

“Ken-ma,” he repeated softly. Kenma nodded. “Where- where am I?”

“This is my home. You are in Nekoma’s territory.” The stranger blinked.

“Ne…koma?” he asked with a head tilt. Kenma nodded again. The stranger hummed thoughtfully and surveyed his surroundings again. “Is Nekoma far from Karasuno’s pod?”

“I…don’t know,” Kenma answered. He’d heard of Karasuno, but he had no idea where it was. “Is that where you’re from?” The stranger nodded. It made sense, Kenma supposed. Karasuno was rumored to have merfolk who could change their appearance to varying degrees, much the same as how Nekoma had citizens who got premonitions. “What’s your name?” The strange mer had been looking out the entrance of Kenma’s home, surveying his garden, but turned around abruptly when addressed.

“Oh,” he responded. “I’m Shouyou.” He held out his hand with a bright smile, though not as bright as it had been in Kenma’s vision. Kenma took his hand and smiled softly.

“Nice to meet you, Shouyou.”

***

Tetsurou paused in his work. He was hauling back his catch, but he suddenly had a desire to check on Kenma. His head swung in the direction of home. It wasn’t an extremely urgent feeling, so he turned and hurried to deposit his catch with the rest. He didn’t wait to be dismissed but turned to head to his home. He knew they were done anyway, the rest was up to the cleaning and gutting crew.

He didn’t swim at full speed, wanting to keep some energy so he could help Kenma if needed, but his pace was still fast. His black hair dragged in the water behind him. He sped past other mer, most of them shooting him odd glances or calling to him to watch where he was going. Tetsurou ignored them. Kenma was more important.

As he drew near to his home, close to the outskirts of Nekoma territory as Kenma enjoyed having lots of space, he heard voices. One was Kenma’s, and it didn’t sound distressed. The other was one he didn’t recognize. With a frown, he drew closer, but slowed his pace considerably. There was still a bit of a ledge blocking his view, until he finally crossed over it and could see what was going on in their territory below.

Kenma was in the garden, gathering various medicinal plants that he had grown himself. His hair, a brown that blended into a lighter blond colour, floated around his head and his tail was its usual healthy, red colour. And he was talking to someone. A strange merman, with orange hair and a pale orange tail. Tetsurou growled. He launched himself downward and approached the other two.

Kenma looked up as he heard a growl. He smiled initially when he saw Tetsurou, but his smile fell when he realized he was glaring at Shouyou. Shouyou’s face and tail paled when he saw the larger merman. Tetsurou surged forward. Kenma darted between the two.

“Tetsurou, wait!” He shouted, but the other wouldn’t listen. Shouyou backed away rapidly, and winced as he strained his still sore tail. “Stop!” Kenma reached out to grab Tetsurou as he tried to circle around Kenma and get to Shouyou, but he slipped through his grasp. Shouyou squeaked as the larger merman barrelled toward him and he shot away from him. He turned and sprinted back into the open water.

Only when Shouyou was gone from view did Tetsurou give up his chase. Kenma rushed to him, gills flaring for oxygen. He really wasn’t a sprinter. By the time he reached Tetsurou, Shouyou was gone. Tetsurou turned to him, looking satisfied with himself. Kenma glared at him. Tetsurou tilted his head and frowned.

“What?” he asked.

“You- you- you IDIOT! What were you thinking? Can’t you see he’s _injured_?” Kenma’s outburst surprised Tetsurou, and he pulled back.

“Huh?”

“His tail,” Kenma continued, more calm now. “He was stung by a fish. I don’t know which one. I was _helping_ him.” Tetsurou blinked. “What did you _think_ was going on?”

“…I thought he was…attacking you…or…sizing you up. Like as a…mate.”

Kenma rolled his eyes. “Honestly. I’m not helpless, you know. But _he is_ right now, and he swam out in the open water where there could be any predators passing by.” He sighed and turned away from his boyfriend. “I’m going to find him.”

Tetsurou growled. “No, you’re not! It’s dangerous.” He reached to grab Kenma, but Kenma twisted and evaded him.

“It’s even more dangerous for Shouyou.”

“Who?”

“The mer you chased off.”

“You exchanged names?”

“Obviously. It’s only polite.”

“But – ”

“I don’t care, I’m going to find him. You can help or not, but I’m going.” Kenma started off in the direction Shouyou left, not waiting for Tetsurou to answer him. It wasn’t two seconds before he heard his boyfriend protest.

“Wait! I’m coming,” Tetsurou called, catching up to Kenma easily. Kenma didn’t answer, only nodded. He didn’t look at Tetsurou, busy scanning the water for any sign of Shouyou as they swam. They swam for a long while in silence, until Kenma suddenly froze. He could feel a vision coming. Dark spots crowded his sight until everything went black.

_ Shouyou was darting away, frantically, from a shark. The shark gained on him, bit him, and shook him by the tail. Shouyou screeched and cried out. His tail, which was still pale and injured, was suddenly stained red. The mer wailed as his blood filled the water. The shark continued to tear and shred his tail. Shouyou beat at it with his fists. He tried changing, but it didn’t seem to be working. His nails would lengthen to claws, but then shrink back to their shape when he tried to use them in defense. His eyes went wide and he shrieked an eerie, painful wail as the shark tore his dorsal fin off. It continued to shred his tail. Scales and flesh floated through the water. Blood streamed around the two and stained the water so Kenma could no longer see._

“Kenma! Kenma!” Kenma woke to his name being called and someone shaking him. He blinked as he stared up into Tetsurou’s worried gaze. He pushed the other back and realized he was stretched out on the ocean floor. Kenma sat up with a wince. Waking visions were always harder on him than ones that came while he was asleep. “Kenma, are you alright? What did you see?” Kenma raised his eyes up to Tetsurou’s.

“…Shouyou. He’s in trouble. There’s a shark. It’s going to tear him apart,” Kenma reported urgently. Tetsurou blinked. He glanced in the direction they were searching for Shouyou and turned back to Kenma.

“Did you get a location?”

Kenma shook his head. “Was too quick. Looked like it was higher up though.” He tried to rise, but swayed around dizzily. Tetsurou slipped an arm around his waist.

“Time?”

“I don’t know.”

“…ok.” Tetsurou paused, deep in thought. Finally, he spoke again. “I’m gonna see if I can figure out a ‘pull’ to him.” Kenma nodded. Tetsurou closed his eyes and frowned as he concentrated. Kenma did his best to wait patiently. He knew it took longer to actively use affinities compared to when the powers chose to act up, but he also knew his boyfriend was one of the best at controlling his abilities. Finally, Tetsurou’s eyes flashed open. He turned his face slightly to the left and stared for a moment. “Kenma.”

“Yes?”

“Hold tight. I’m not leaving you here, but I’ve gotta be quick.”

Kenma nodded and wrapped his arms tightly around his boyfriend’s waist. “Ok.” Tetsurou didn’t wait for anymore confirmation but shot off through the water. Kenma tucked his head against Tetsurou’s chest and hoped they weren’t too late.

***

Shouyou squeaked as he dodged the shark. It was large. He turned and tried to swim away, but the shark caught his tail with its teeth. He screeched and twisted and turned. The shark thrashed and shook him by the tail. Shouyou screamed. He squirmed and tried to shift his form and attack with his claws, but the pain was too much and he couldn’t hold his focus enough to keep his form.

“HELP!” he shrieked. “SOMEONE! PLEASE!” He beat at the shark with his fists, but it would not let go. His face contorted in pain.

A dark shadow flew through the water. The shark jolted. Red filled the water. It swirled around them and Shouyou choked on the taste of blood through his gills. Excruciating pain shot through his tail and he gasped as his vision went dark.

When Shouyou woke, the first thing he registered was pain. It started in his tailfins, sharp and burning, and radiated upward to his waist, where it turned into a dull, throbbing, ache. He winced and whimpered. The next thing he realized was he was in a nest of seaweed and algae, and it wasn’t his own. With a gasp, Shouyou sat upward abruptly. He immediately regretted his actions as his pain intensified. He groaned and closed his eyes again.

“You really should take it easy,” a voice called out casually. Shouyou opened his eyes and looked around. His gaze landed on the large merman from before, the one who chased him. Red tail. Messy black hair. And a serious gaze. Shouyou yelped and shot up. He scrambled backward and grimaced with pain. The other mer looked alarmed and reached out to him before stopping himself. “You need to be careful!”

“You’re scaring him,” a familiar voice scolded gently. Shouyou’s gaze turned to the entrance to the den, where Kenma was swimming inside with a handful of the plants he’d been showing Shouyou earlier. Shouyou’s gaze darted back and forth between the other two mermen.

“Um,” he mumbled nervously. They both stared at him. “What exactly happened? I just…I just remember the shark. I don’t even know where it went.” The larger merman smirked.

“I took care of it,” he announced. Kenma rolled his eyes.

“If you hadn’t chased Shouyou off, you wouldn’t have had to ‘take care of it’ in the first place, Testurou. Don’t act so proud when all you did was clean up your own mess,” he retorted with a frown at Tetsurou as he approached Shouyou. He turned his gaze to Shouyou. “Here, let me finish with your tail. These will help prevent infection.” Shouyou nodded slowly and let Kenma closer, but he never took his eyes off the merman called Tetsurou. Tetsurou looked to be pouting now.

“Aw, c’mon Kenma. I only did it because I was worried about you. I _am _nice, you know.”

Kenma rolled his eyes. “Uh-huh,” he replied. Tetsurou frowned.

“Don’t sound so convinced,” he muttered. Shouyou hesitated, then sent a small smile Tetsurou’s way.

“Um, thank you. F-for fighting the shark off,” he mumbled. Tetsurou shot him a grin.

“No problem, Shrimp.”

Shouyou bristled. “I’m _not _a shrimp!”

“Ehhh, could’ve fooled me. You’re so small, you might as well be,” Tetsurou teased. Shouyou glared.

“I take it back! You’re mean!”

Tetsurou stuck out his tongue. “You can’t take back what’s been said,” he replied.

Shouyou ‘hmmphed’ and folded his arms. He didn’t dare move his lower half at the moment, his tail still hurt too much. Beside him, Kenma sighed.

“Please don’t pick on Shouyou,” he stated to Tetsurou. Tetsurou balked.

“Hey! He’s the one who wants take back his apology.”

“Because you’re behaving rudely,” Kenma responded as he continued to clean and dress Shouyou’s tail. “Now, make up with him. He’s going to be here for a while and I won’t have you arguing the whole time.” Tetsurou sighed.

“Ok, ok. I’m sorry.”

Shouyou’s ears flicked once as he regarded him. Tetsurou seemed sincere. “Ok,” he accepted. Then he turned to Kenma. “What do you mean I’ll ‘be here for a while’?”

“Well, you shouldn’t swim with your tail in this condition. So you should probably stay here, at least until it’s healed.”

“Oh.” Shouyou looked down. He bit his lip. “I…guess that makes sense,” he mumbled. Kenma paused and looked at his face.

“It’s only until you’re healed. Then you should be able to go wherever you need to,” he responded. Shouyou gave him a small smile.

“Right. Ok.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the Kudos and the comments! I really appreciate it :)


	4. Homeward Bound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karasuno searches frantically for their lost pod-member.
> 
> Shouyou, Kenma, and Tetsurou set out to get Shouyou home.

Tobio turned away from the boat with a frustrated growl. It wasn’t the right one. The markings on the side were different. “Dammit!” he hissed. His webbed ears and the fins on his tail flared out and he snarled. Inside his head a constant chorus chanted, _running out of time, running out of time, it’s been six days, running out of time._

“I-I’m sure we’ll find him soon, Tobio. We’ll keep looking,” Tadashi tried to console him. Tobio didn’t acknowledge him and continued to glare through the water, as though the right boat would appear suddenly in front of him.

“Sulking sure isn’t going to help,” another mer voiced. Tobio turned to glare at the larger, blond mer. It was Kei Tsukishima.

“Shut up! You weren’t there, you didn’t see how scared he was! We have to find him!” He shouted.

“Yeah, well maybe if I was there I wouldn’t have let him get taken away in the first place,” Kei replied. Tadashi placed a hand on his arm, noting how both of their tails were steadily growing darker.

“Wait, guys,” he tried to intervene. Yuu cut him off. 

“What did you just say?” His voice was cold and his gaze was murderous. His tail was dark, almost black. Kei returned his stare.

“You heard me.”

“You – YOU BASTARD!” Yuu threw himself at Kei with a shriek. Despite his smaller size, he was a formidable force, and Kei found himself tipped onto his back as the older mer attacked.

“_ENOUGH!_” The shout startled both of them and they paused, both their heads turned to the source. Daichi swam over, his tail an annoyed red, fins flared, face set in a glare. “What are you two doing?! We can’t afford to waste any time!” The two separated. Yuu hung his head in shame. Kei looked anywhere but Daichi’s eyes. “Whatever the hell is going on between you guys, figure it out on your own time. Right now, our priority is finding Shouyou. Am I clear?” They both nodded. “Good. Come on, we’re regrouping with the others, see if anyone’s found anything.” He turned and led them toward the other search parties that had been formed. Yuu’s tail was still dark, but not near as dark as it was before. Kei’s tail, on the other hand, was the palest Tadashi had ever seen it. He bumped shoulders with his friend as they swam beside each other.

“We’re going to find him,” he murmured gently. Kei glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and then looked forward again.

“You and I both know the likelihood of him being alive decreases with every day that goes by,” he replied and he sped up, leaving Tadashi to follow him.

***

“That must have been terrifying,” Kenma murmured. Shouyou nodded. He’d explained how he came to be so far from his pod.

“It was awful. They weren’t nice at all, and they didn't give me enough water. I don’t know if it was to try and keep me weak or if they just don’t know how much water we need,” he replied with a shudder. Tetsurou frowned. Kenma put an arm around him and patted him in a soothing gesture. Shouyou rested his head on his shoulder. “And they just left my tail, even though it looked so awful! And it hurt so much. I barely had enough energy to shift enough and get out of those stupid ropes they used.”

“…shift?” Kenma tilted his head. Shouyou looked up at him with large eyes.

“You know, like change? Like, when your body goes all, like, brrrrr and then it’s different.” Kenma stared at him blankly. Shouyou looked at Tetsurou, but the other merman also seemed to be lost for words. Shouyou wriggled out of Kenma’s grasp. “I’ll show you.” He closed his eyes and concentrated hard. He felt the familiar shiver run through his body as it changed size and suddenly he was much smaller, only about the length of Kenma’s hand. The other two mer stared with wide eyes. Then Tetsurou grinned.

“You really are a shrimp,” he teased. Shouyou glared and returned to his usual size after a moment.

“Shut up!” he snapped. Tetsurou laughed.

“Aw, come on. If you hate it that much, why don’t you just make yourself bigger?” He taunted. Shouyou’s cheeks reddened and his tail went pink.

“I-it’s not ea-easy,” he mumbled as he avoided Tetsurou’s gaze. “I c-can do lots, like get smaller and back to normal, and my tail changes, like everyone’s back home, and I can even make myself look like other mers and sound like them, but…but no matter what I do, I can’t make myself bigger! I try and try and try, and it doesn’t work.” He bit his lip and fidgeted with his hands, eyes on the floor of the den. “Everyone else can get bigger if they want to. But I can only get smaller. And I couldn’t even do it when I needed to. I have to concentrate and it’s really hard, and I was too scared when the net was coming up,” he added quietly. Tetsurou’s smile dropped as Shouyou explained and his gaze became serious. He folded his arms.

“Hmmm. Well then, that answers some of my questions,” he stated. He tilted his head as he regarded the smaller mer. “Are you the only one who can get that small?” Shouyou blinked and looked up at him.

“Um, Yuu can get small too. But I’m the only one who can get that small,” he replied with a confused look. “Why?”

“Well, being big isn’t everything,” Kenma put in. “There are plenty of good things about being able to be smaller. It’s easier to hide, for one, and you can get into almost any place that bigger mers would have trouble getting into. I didn’t even know you could change size at all. I thought it was just appearance like your tail colour. So I think it’s very cool.” Shouyou blinked.

“Y-yeah, I guess, when you say it like that, it’s cool!” His face lit up with a smile. Kenma smiled back softly. Tetsurou regarded them both for a moment before he turned away with a smile of his own.

“I’m going to collect our share of the food,” he called over his shoulder as he left. _And take care of an important matter_, he thought, but he kept that part to himself.

***

Tetsurou sighed as he woke and stretched in his and Kenma’s den. He glanced at the other two figures sleeping easily and smiled. It hadn’t taken him long to get the pod leader on his side in regards to his ‘important matter’; wanting Shouyou to be able to stay with them and, when the time came, for himself and Kenma to have permission to leave with the smaller mer and travel with him. It helped that Shouyou was so small, which made him look pretty defenseless compared to everyone else. He'd also confided he was still quite young, and hadn't even started apprenticing in a role in his pod, which was used by many pods as the marking of a mer's transition from child to adult. Not many could justify sending someone so vulnerable out on their own. The one he’d actually had the most trouble convincing was, in fact, Shouyou. The younger mer had vigorously protested, stating he didn’t want to be trouble to anyone and that he could very well take care of himself. Luckily, Kenma was able to persuade their new friend.

It had been two and a half weeks now, and Shouyou’s tail looked much better. All his wounds from the shark attack were sealed and healing well, and he was set to depart today. Tetsurou rose from his resting place and went over their supplies again, making sure there was enough food, medicinal supplies, and weapons should they need to defend themselves or hunt. He’d already checked the supplies the night before, but he didn’t want to miss anything. Once he was satisfied, he began to prepare some fish he’d caught the day before. He sliced them open and removed the bones. While some bones were good to eat, the very small ones could get stuck easily in their throats.

“Hmmm, is there food?” A groggy voice asked slowly. Tetsurou rolled his eyes and smirked. Over the last couple weeks, he’d gotten used to Shouyou’s favourite question in the mornings. Wordlessly, he held a now boneless fish to him. Shouyou snatched it and started eating eagerly. Kenma woke not long after and accepted a fish as well.

After breakfast, the three gathered up the packs they were taking along. They were simple packs that could be slung over one shoulder and stuck close to the carrier’s body, made out of leftover skins from hunts. They left without waking anyone from the pod, having said their goodbyes the night before. It was Tetsurou’s idea. He knew how much Shouyou wanted to get on the road, and he also knew some of his pod-members could drag out goodbyes. They swam a long time in silence. Tetsurou had a general knowledge of the way to Karasuno’s Pod, so he led them.

After a while, Shouyou began to flit around and look at the various creatures they passed. He stopped when he saw a fish he hadn’t seen before and stared at it. The fish stared back. It was large and flat, with two eyes on one side of its body. Shouyou tilted his head as he regarded it. He didn’t know how long the two of them stared at each other. Slowly, the fish turned and swam away. Shouyou pouted at the loss of the subject he was studying. He sighed and glanced around for Tetsurou or Kenma. Neither were in sight. Panic shot through his body. He turned around and around, but he could not see them anywhere.

“Kenma? Tetsurou?” He called out. No one answered. He let loose a high-pitch trill, questioning, searching. He waited for an answer. And waited. And waited. He looked around himself again, unsure which way they’d been travelling to begin with. He didn’t really pay attention as they were following Tetsurou’s lead. He called their names again. Nothing. He let out a wail in desperation and pulled at his hair. “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

***

Kenma wasn’t sure when exactly Shouyou disappeared. All he knew was he turned to check on the other mer, because he had been suspiciously quiet for a long time, and there was no one behind him. Tetsurou was at his side, and was scanning the ocean as he tried to guide them the right way, and it appeared he hadn’t noticed Shouyou disappear either.

“Tetsurou,” Kenma stated as he stopped swimming. His boyfriend turned to him expectantly. “Shouyou’s gone.”

“What?!” Tetsurou glanced around and sure enough, he could not see Shouyou. “Where the hell did he go?” Kenma shook his head.

“I don’t know. But it’s not safe for him to be on his own.”

“I know! I know! Just…ok. Just give me a minute.” Tetsurou breathed in and out and closed his eyes. He was about to concentrate on Shouyou’s pull when he heard it. A low, sad, lonely wailing sound. His eyes snapped open and he looked to Kenma, who nodded. Without hesitation, they both sped back in the direction of the cry.

Kenma felt a surge of relief as he saw a familiar orange mop of hair come into view. The tail though, it was flashing through a range of colours; red, blue, pale orange, even purple. He could hear Shouyou’s voice carry over the water now.

“Stupid! Stupid! Aghhhhh why am I so dumb?” came the anguished cries. Kenma sped up. Beside him, Tetsurou did the same.

“Shouyou!” Kenma called as he barrelled into his friend. Shouyou stared at him blankly, mouth opening and closing with no words coming out.

“Hey there, Shrimp. What were you doing way back here?” Tetsurou inquired teasingly as he reached them. Kenma tightened his hold on Shouyou.

“You need to stick closer,” he added. Shouyou continued to stare at them until he could form words.

“I-I thought you left meeeee,” he wailed and clung to Kenma. Kenma patted his hair. Tetsurou sighed.

“You really scared us, Shrimp. We’re not gonna leave you, but you can’t just wander off on your own without telling us and expect us to know where you are,” he scolded. Shouyou only nodded as he continued to hug Kenma. Tetsurou continued “it’s dangerous out here. There are all sorts of things that could harm you. You need to stick close so I can protect the two of you.”

“I-I do-don’t ne-ed protection,” Shouyou stammered as he tried to control his sobs. Tetsurou raised his eyebrow and Shouyou lowered his gaze. His cheeks flushed and his tail turned pink.

“You’re still younger than Kenma and me. You have literally no experience as a hunter or scout or anything like that, you haven’t even started apprenticing in a role yet, or so you said earlier. Out of all of us, you are the most vulnerable right now. So yeah, you do need protection right now.” Shouyou’s head bowed even lower and he cowered in on himself. Kenma shot Tetsurou a look and the older mer sighed. “Look, eventually you’ll be alright on your own. But for right now, just take our help, ok? I’ll even teach you some stuff so you can help.” At the offer of being taught, Shouyou brightened. He slipped out of Kenma’s arms and gripped Tetsurou’s hands. His eyes sparkled.

“You would? Really? Promise?” His tail shone a brilliant orange and flicked side to side behind him. Tetsurou blinked.

“Yeah, I can,” he replied. “Just basics. You won’t be fighting sharks. But you should at least learn to hunt. And Kenma can help too.” He met Kenma’s gaze over Shouyou’s head. Shouyou’s gaze swung around to the other mer and Kenma nodded once. Shouyou grinned.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” he cried as he swam circles around the two of them.

“Alright, calm down,” Tetsurou reminded him, “We do have to travel some more yet, and we have to make up for lost time now.” Shouyou calmed immediately and nodded.

“Ok! I promise I’ll stay close this time,” he agreed. Tetsurou smirked as he ran a hand through Shouyou’s hair.

“Good. Let’s go.” The three of them turned and continued on their way.


	5. Big Trouble. Literally.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shouyou, Kenma, and Tetsurou wander into another Pod's territory.

Koutarou watched the fish flit about carefully. Their bright colours flashed in the water and he grinned. His tail swayed slowly behind him as his golden eyes tracked their movements. _If I bring home these colourful fish, he’ll be pleased for sure!_ He thought. He hummed a low, buzzing hum to himself as he tuned in to the fish in front of him. He could feel their intentions, their emotions, and could, if he wanted, force them to come to him. But he didn’t like hunting like that; there was no sport to it. He only wanted to use his ability to make sure he was undetected as a threat, and to lock onto his targets.

Once he was certain he was in an optimum position to attack, he readied himself. Just as he was about to lunge forward and grab the biggest, brightest fish, a loud laugh startled the fish in front of him. _“Threat! Threat! Scatter! Away! Away!”_ Koutarou could feel their instincts tear through his own body and he forced himself to pull away from their feelings. As the fish scattered away from him and the away from the direction of the noise, he growled. Who was this, who had scared his prize away and ruined his chances of surprising his mate? He would find them, and they would pay. He frowned as he scanned the water around him. There was a small drop-off to his right, where the noise had come from. He swam closer and peeked over the edge with caution. His tail straightened and his fins flared. A low hiss left him as he watched three strange mermen swimming through his Pod’s territory. _A rogue pod?_ He wondered. They weren’t very common. Koutarou shook his head. It didn’t matter who they were, they were strangers and therefore, a threat. A threat to his pod. A threat to _Keiji_. He looked the three over again. One big one, two smaller ones. Two of them had red tails, and the smallest of the bunch had an orange tail. Clearly, the biggest one was their leader. The other with a red tail didn’t look like much of a threat physically, but with no idea what pod they were from, Koutarou couldn’t be certain they didn’t have a formidable ability. The smallest was circling the other two, smiling and laughing, like a child. A guppy, then. Not difficult to deal with at all. Maybe he belonged to the other two. They probably adopted it or something. Still, he couldn’t dispatch a guppy. Maybe _he_ could adopt him. After he got rid of the other two. _Keiji might like that,_ he thought, _he does like guppies._ Koutarou nodded to himself. Yes. He would get rid of the two threats and adopt the little one. Raise it up to be a proud member of Fukurodani Pod. Teach the little one to hunt and fight and show him the ways of the pod. Determined, he launched himself over the edge of the drop-off and toward the trio with a loud cry.

***

Tetsurou was nervous. He did his best not to let it show, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that they needed to be far, far away from where they were. He knew it was his affinity trying to protect them. He was also sure this was the fastest way to get back to Karasuno Pod. He decided to keep going, and just keep a close watch on their surroundings. It didn’t help that Shouyou kept darting about, laughing and giggling. But he and Kenma both seemed to be happy, and he didn’t want to worry them. So he simply told them to stick close. After the incident two days ago when Shouyou was left behind, it wasn’t hard to convince them to stick close to him.

He felt the sudden tug in his consciousness a few seconds before he heard the loud cry. He turned to his left and his eyes locked on a bright, golden gaze as a shape hurtled toward them. He barely had enough time to shove himself in front of Kenma and Shouyou. The attacker hit him and Tetsurou felt himself thrown back by the force. Kenma and Shouyou drew back from the fight as he righted himself and glared at their attacker. It was a merman, only slightly shorter in length than he was, with black and white colouring on his tail and hair. His hair stuck out in spikes, reminding him of some spiked fish. Tetsurou met his gaze with a glare of his own.

“Who are you?” he growled. His fins spread out, partly to hide the two behind him, partly to make him seem larger and more intimidating. The other merman snarled.

“I should ask you! This is my pod’s territory! You’re trespassing!” His fins flashed out in an impressive display as he entered into an aggressive stance. Tetsurou gripped his weapon and prepared to lunge, but he tried to talk his way out first, mindful of the harm that could befall the other two if a fight broke out.

“We’re just passing through. We won’t harm you or your pod,” he answered slowly. The other merman snorted.

“As if I’d believe you! Anyone can say that,” he retorted. “If you mean no harm, then why are you so ready to fight?” He stared smugly at Tetsurou.

“You attacked us first! I’m defending myself and my own.”

“Ehhh, so I was right. That’s your mate, the one with the red tail,” the merman mused out loud as he continued to watch the trio.

“What of it?” Tetsurou couldn’t keep the edge out of his voice. Every instinct screamed at him to turn and check on Kenma. He forced himself to keep his eyes on the enemy.

“And your guppy,” the stranger continued. Tetsurou blinked and his stance relaxed as he stared at his opponent.

“Our…_what_?”

“I think I’ll kill you, for trespassing. And take the guppy home with me to raise.”

“What? No, he’s not – ” Tetsurou began, confused. He was cut off as the stranger rushed forward and attacked. Tetsurou had no choice but to fight back. They were a flurry of movement, snarls, and growls. He didn’t know how long they fought, but it couldn’t have been long before a screech interrupted them. Both heads snapped toward the other two, only to see an orange blur streak forward and attack the black and white merman. At least, Tetsurou _thought_ it was an attack. The other mer didn’t even budge as Shouyou made contact, and it looked like the younger mer was _hugging_ him, except for the angry expression on his small, usually bright face. The stranger regarded Shouyou for a moment and Tetsurou felt his heart leap into his throat.

“Huh, you’re really adorable,” the stranger stated as he continued to stare at Shouyou. Shouyou pulled back to stare at him.

“Whu-n-no! I’m not adorable, I’m FIERCE!” he shouted. The stranger blinked. Then he laughed.

“Haha, I like you!” he declared with a grin. Then his gaze settled on Kenma and Tetsurou and his smile vanished. He easily slipped an arm around Shouyou and turned him so he could keep him close while he had a tight grip on his whale-bone knife with his other hand. Shouyou struggled against his hold.

“Stop! What are you doing?” he cried out. The stranger gripped him tighter.

“Don’t worry,” he answered. “You won’t get hurt, I promise.” He spoke to Shouyou but his eyes were watching Tetsurou and Kenma.

“Let him go,” Tetsurou growled. His tail snapped back and forth behind him. His eyes were cold. Kenma fixed a glare on the stranger. He was behind Tetsurou, but his posture was just as threatening.

The stranger flashed a feral grin and tensed his muscles, ready to lunge forward. Before any of them could move, his ear fins flicked. The grin dropped from his face and he snapped into a straighter position, grip on Shouyou still firm despite the smaller mer’s desperate attempts to get loose. Even his sharpened nails didn’t seem to affect the stranger. Tetsurou watched as the stranger frowned at something in the distance on his right. He didn’t dare allow his eyes to leave the mer in front of him. _It’s most likely a distraction,_ he thought, _an attempt to make me drop my guard. No way in hell. I’m getting Shouyou back and we’re getting the hell out of here._ Every instinct in his body screamed that they needed to get away. He wasn’t leaving without Shouyou. Never mind that Kenma would probably actually kill him, he liked having the little mer around.

After a few seconds, Tetsurou decided he wasn’t waiting any longer. He shot forward. The other mer barely reacted in time and jolted back, dragging Shouyou with him. “Wait,” he started, but Tetsurou wouldn’t let him talk. He kept lunging and swinging, careful not to aim near Shouyou. From the corner of his eye he saw Kenma slink around behind the stranger, into a position he could attack from. Tetsurou didn’t let it show on his face, but he increased the speed of his attacks and drew his opponent’s attention even more. The other mer kept trying to protest, but Tetsurou was determined not to fall for any tricks.

“Seriously, this isn’t – ” the mer growled, but Tetsurou punched him in the face. That seemed to piss the stranger off and he stopped trying to talk. He snarled and leapt into the fight. He threw himself fully into it, and Tetsurou had trouble keeping up, even with the other mer holding Shouyou. Granted, it would be easier if he didn’t have to concentrate on not hitting Shouyou by accident. The stranger took a swipe at his head. He barely dodged it. A blur slipped in front of the stranger’s face and he was jerked backward, Kenma’s hand on his face. His other hand yanked the strange mer’s hair while he hit him with his tail from behind. Tetsurou lunged forward again as the other twisted and shook Kenma off his back with a growl. Shouyou squeaked as he was also whipped around by the movement, and all three of them paused to look at him.

A low rumble echoed through the water as they paused, heaving for breath. The stranger’s gaze locked on the direction the noise came from. Tetsurou stilled as he also looked about for the source. When he saw nothing, he looked back at the stranger.

“What was that?” he demanded. The strange mer didn’t answer. His eyes were wide and his body was tense, but it was different from when he was readying to fight Tetsurou. This time, he looked ready to flee. “Oi!” The other snapped his gaze back to Tetsurou. Tetsurou glared at him. “I asked you a question. What the _hell_ was _that_?” As the other opened his mouth to reply, another rumble rolled across the ocean floor. His eyes darted in the direction of the sound and he chewed on his lip, as if debating something. Tetsurou growled. “Just tell me alre- ”

His words were cut off as Shouyou was shoved toward him. Startled, he caught him. “Hurry.” The other mer’s voice was calm as he turned away from them to face the noise. Kenma drew back from him and toward Tetsurou. The mer glanced over his shoulder at them. “Get out of here. Now.”

“The hell? You were just gonna kill us, or are you so dumb you forgot that part?” Tetsurou tightened his hold on Shouyou and moved in between Kenma and the other mer as he spoke. He froze as he saw a cloud of sand rise up in the distant waters. “What…”

“GET OUT OF HERE!” The stranger shouted right before he darted off in the direction of the disturbance. Tetsurou couldn’t move, could only watch as the mer approached the mass slowly rising out of the ocean floor. His heart stuttered as he saw another shape, this one now behind the stranger, crawl out of the sand.

_Leave! Get out of here now! Grab Shouyou and Kenma and go! _His inner voice screamed at him. As he prepared to do just that, Shouyou slipped out of his grasp. “Shouyou!” he yelled. Kenma hurried after his friend. Shouyou drew nearer to the strange mer.

“Look out! Behind you!” he shouted frantically. Tetsurou cursed. _What is he doing? That guy tried to kill us!_

_As if you’re any better,_ another part of his mind replied and an image of Shouyou in the jaws of a shark flashed through his mind. Tetsurou flinched in shame and, with another curse, he surged toward the giant beasts surrounding the stranger.

***

Keiji frowned as he sharpened his knife. It wasn’t usual that Koutarou went off without him, and it never ended well. He wondered sometimes how the other mer ever made it before they became friends, and then lovers. He sighed as he finished and sheathed the bone knife. He ran a hand through his dark hair and flicked his tail as he stared at the entrance to their den. _He’s never been off this long before,_ he mused. With another sigh, he heaved himself up from his sitting position and left the den. “Better go find out what trouble he got into now,” he muttered to himself. He scanned the water as he swam past the homes of other pod-members and nodded greetings to others as they called out to him. No one he stopped to ask had any idea where Koutarou went. Keiji rubbed his forehead as the last mer he’d asked shrugged and swam away. “Seriously, where _is_ he?”

_“Keiji! Keiji!”_ a small voice squeaked. Keiji turned toward it and saw a small fish wriggle out from under the mud. The little lizard-fish made its way to him quickly.

“Hello,” he greeted the familiar creature. He reached his hand out and stroked the fish’s back. “What can I do for you?” He gave it a gentle smile.

_“Trouble! Trouble! Trouble!”_ Keiji’s smile faded.

“What sort of trouble?”

_“Monster! Monster!”_

“Where? What is it?”

The little fish couldn’t seem to describe what it was upset over. Instead, it repeated, _“Monster! MONSTER!”_ Keiji bit his lip. He hesitated. The ‘monster’ could be anything from an actual monster to another lizard-fish that decided to bully this one, as he had learned from previous experiences.

“Ok, don’t tell me,” he replied. “Just, hold still. I need to see what you saw, ok?” The fish didn’t stop chanting, but did stop its movements. Keiji touched its back and closed his eyes. Light flashed across the back of his eyelids, and a kaleidoscope of images began. He saw Koutarou as he stalked a group of colourful fish. The fish were startled away. There were three new mermen. Koutarou was challenging them. Keiji groaned inwardly, but the images kept coming, and he kept looking. There was a fight. He felt his ire toward his mate rising. It looked like he was holding one of the mer. _Why?_ The next image was open water, accompanied with a low rumbling sound. His heart pounded loudly. He knew that sound. The next images were of Koutarou darting toward a shape rising from the sand. Large, dark tentacles. As Koutarou readied to face off against the beast, another loomed up behind him. Keiji jerked back from the fish. He knew from the surroundings where the fight was. He turned and sprinted back the way he’d come. “Please don’t be dead, you idiot,” he prayed as he rushed to his lover.


	6. A Saviour Arrives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karasuno Pod continues to search for their lost member.
> 
> A saviour arrives to fight the giants Shouyou is up against.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some violence in this one. Not overly graphic or gory.

Tobio glared at the smug merman in front of him. They were on the border of Karasuno’s territory. “I don’t care if you’re the king of the bloody ocean,” the merman stated sarcastically, “I’m not just letting you into our territory.” He folded his arms across his chest.

Tobio groaned. “Listen, we’re not here as a threat,” he began and he saw Tadashi nod from the corner of his eye. The other merman cut him off.

“Uh-uh,” he replied with a shake of his head. His brown hair floated and bounced in the water. “You’re not coming through here, and that’s final.”

“Listen, you!!” Tobio yelled. The other mer glared at him coldly. He uncrossed his arms and tensed, as if to attack.

“Oi, what’s going on?” a rough voice demanded. Tobio, Tadashi, and Kei pulled back, startled. The merman in front of them looked over his shoulder.

“Oh, Hajime,” he greeted as he relaxed. Only to be smacked on the back of the head by the stern-looking Hajime.

“What are you doing, Tooru?” he demanded. He surveyed the Karasuno Pod members. “Is he bothering you guys?” Tooru spluttered.

“Wha- no! They’re the ones bothering me!” He glared as he gestured at them. Hajime glanced at the other mer.

“I doubt it.”

“Um, actually, we were wondering if we could, um, uh…” Tadashi began, but he trailed off when Hajime turned his intimidating gaze his way.

“We need to search through this area,” Kei finished as he swam up beside Tadashi to face the other two. Tobio nodded. Hajime raised an eyebrow.

“Oh?”

“As if we’d let you in here to hunt,” Tooru replied. Tadashi shook his head.

“No! You don’t understand! We’re looking for humans,” he interjected frantically. The two mer pulled back with wide eyes. Hajime recovered first.

“There are no humans here,” he responded as he narrowed his eyes.

“No, not under the water but in their boats!”

“…Why?” his tone was low and demanding. Hajime eyed the three of them suspiciously.

“One of our Pod-members was taken by some humans. We’re going to find him and take him back,” Kei answered. He met Hajime’s gaze and held it.

“Look, I’m sorry to break it to you,” Tooru cut in, and he did look sorry, sad even, “but if your friend was taken by humans, you’re not likely to find him.” He looked away as he ran a hand through his hair. “It’s…awful, and I’m sorry, I really am, but think about it realistically.”

“Then we’ll avenge him.” Tobio’s voice was cold, but his glare was colder. Tooru stared at him.

“…we can’t allow a bunch of strange mer in our territory to run around unregulated,” Hajime started. He glanced between the three Karasuno Pod-members. “Describe the humans and the boat to us. We’ll have our scouts and hunters keep a look-out. If we find anything, we’ll let you know.” Tobio nodded. He described the boat in as much detail as he could.

“How will you contact us?” Kei asked with a frown once they had the description. Hajime turned to Tooru, who sighed and rolled his eyes. Kei, Tadashi, and Tobio all felt something jolt through them, as if they’d each just brushed an anemone, but it was only brief.

_Like this, _Tooru’s voice sounded in their ears, although his lips didn’t move. Tobio’s eyes widened. Tadashi clapped his hands over his ears.

“H-how?” he squeaked. Only Kei seemed unperturbed.

“Huh, so that’s your affinity, then?” he observed. Tooru gave a short nod.

“I see. Well then, we’ll leave you to it then. Let us know if you see anything resembling that boat. Or if you see a small merman with bright orange hair and a tail to match,” he called as he turned and swam off. Tadashi followed, as did Tobio. Tooru scoffed.

“Who does he think he is? Giving me orders,” he grumbled. Hajime rolled his eyes.

“He was just confirming what I said we’d do.”

“…fine. Whatever.” Tooru pouted. Hajime sighed.

“Come on, we need to let the others know what to look for.”

***

A large, dark, thick tentacle reached up from the sand and towered over them. Shouyou slowed in his race to warn the strange black and white coloured merman. Kenma grabbed his shoulders and yanked him backward as the tentacle crashed down in front of him.

“Shouyou! Kenma! Get back from there!” Tetsurou’s voice cut through the water. He charged in front of them and sliced at the tentacle as it started to raise again. It pulled back sharply as his knife cut it, and a screech echoed through the water as it was stained red with blood. Ahead of them, Shouyou saw the stranger glance back at them. He opened his mouth as the other creature swung at him, but Shouyou couldn’t warn him in time. The creature hit the mer and swept him up in its grip. The black and white mer snarled and attacked the tentacle with his bone knife.

Shouyou’s attention was ripped away as once again, the beast in front of them attacked. There were two tentacles coming at them now, and Shouyou could see a mound under the sand, moving and writhing. His tail paled and he clung to Kenma’s hands, which still gripped his shoulders tightly. Tetsurou took up a defensive stance in front of them. The creature’s tentacles both shot toward him. He deflected one, but the second one caught his right arm and yanked it forward. He yelped and hacked at it. Kenma let go of Shouyou and shot forward to help. After a second, Shouyou followed and started to claw at the tentacle as well. It retreated hastily and Tetsurou rubbed his shoulder as he continued to watch the beast’s movements.

A low call sounded from ahead of them, and the three looked over. The only one there was the strange mer. The call was different from that of the beast, it sounded like a whale. The tentacle came crashing toward the stranger again, and he fought to push it back. As he fought, he opened his mouth and another call came forth.

_Some kind of strange war-cry?_ Shouyou wondered. His attention was disrupted as he was swept back by Kenma, and Tetsurou leapt to their defense again. After a moment, the stranger let out a call again. And again.

_Wait, no, _Shouyou thought, _this one’s different. Almost as if – _

His thought was interrupted as he suddenly heard several different calls, all at once, from above. He turned his gaze upward, as did Kenma. Tetsurou didn’t take his eyes off his current opponent. Above them, several whales approached. Shouyou’s mouth dropped open. He heard the stranger’s call again, and the whales answered. They came closer and closer, until they were moving in between the tentacles as well. They butted in front of them, shoved them to the side, and swatted them with their tales. The creatures, for their part, answered the new attack with more limbs. The mounds under the sand rose up to reveal more tentacles, and large, eel-like heads. Luminescent eyes glared at the mermen and whales. One of the creatures opened its large mouth to reveal rows upon rows of sharp teeth. Shouyou shuddered. It released its own long, low wail.

“What the hell?!” Tetsurou shouted as he covered his ears. Shouyou almost didn’t hear him, except he was currently right next to him. Kenma held his arms around Shouyou, like a protective cage. After the sound ended, there was silence. The whales seemed to hesitate. The stranger’s chest heaved and his ears flicked back and forth, as if he was listening. The silence didn’t last long, and Shouyou’s eyes widened. In the distance, faint, but chilling, came a response. “There are _more _of them?!” Tetsurou cried out in disbelief. He stared in the direction of the answering call, eyes wide and body lax. He didn’t see the tentacle knock into one of the smaller whales and send it hurtling toward them.

“Watch out!” Kenma shouted. He grabbed Shouyou and Tetsurou and dragged them out of the way. The whale tumbled through the water next to them instead of hitting them dead on. Another tentacle came up behind them and wrapped around Kenma’s waist. He yelped.

Shouyou attacked the tentacle fiercely. He lengthened his claws and let his teeth grow sharp. He scratched and clawed and bit until the creature let his friend go. A rumbling sound, as if the earth itself were splitting, came from the direction of the distant call. Shouyou turned his head and stared in disbelief with the other two as another large, dark shape made its way across the ocean floor. It was still far off, but he could tell it was massive.

“Hey! Look out!” The cry came from the stranger. He sped toward them and blocked an attack from hitting Shouyou as Tetsurou fended off another blow from the opposite side.

“Wha-what are these things?” Shouyou squeaked out.

“Leviathans.” The stranger’s face was grim as he answered. He raised his fins in an attempt to help Tetsurou block Kenma and Shouyou from the attacks. He glanced at Tetsurou. “You should’ve run.”

Tetsurou snorted as he blocked another attack. “Yeah, well, I _wanted_ to,” he grunted as he shoved the tentacle off. “But then Shouyou figured he had to warn you about the second monster, or whatever. And I’m not gonna leave him and Kenma.”

“Oh, the second one,” the other mer responded, almost absentmindedly as he slashed forward with his bone blade. “Yeah, I knew it was there the whole time. Heard them long before they even started attacking.”

“And you didn’t WARN US?” Shouyou shouted, eyes wide.

“Tried to as soon as I heard them. But your friend wouldn’t listen.” He batted a tentacle aside with his tail.

“Don’t try to pin this on me!” Tetsurou snapped. “_You_ attacked _us_ first!” He ducked under an attack and sliced at the beast. It dodged.

“Yeah, well, _you’re _in _my_ pod’s territory!”

“Listen, you two can fight after, when we’re not facing death,” Kenma cut in. Around them, the water was red with blood. Bits and pieces of whales floated around them. The remaining whales attempted to keep fighting. The stranger glanced around at the mess and frowned as he fended off more attacks. He let off a series of clicks and whistles. There was an answering whistle, and all the whales turned and fled toward the surface.

"What are you doing?" Tetsurou demanded with a grunt as a tentacle struck him. "They were helping us, right? Why are they leaving?"

"I won't let them all die. Not like this."

A roar rolled through the water as the third leviathan charged toward them. Shouyou yelped and clung to Kenma. The other monsters attacked at the same time, and Tetsurou and the stranger struggled to fend them off. The monster drew closer and closer. Shouyou couldn’t look away. Its eyes glowed and its teeth gleamed as it sped toward them.

From above them, another call sounded. It was low and melodic, and the effect was instant. All three leviathons froze mid-attack. Shouyou glanced between the three of them with disbelieving eyes. Tetsurou hissed.

“What the fuck?” he whispered. Kenma squeezed Shouyou’s hand. The stranger had the oddest reaction, at least to Shouyou. He dropped his defensive stance and turned toward the voice. The other three tensed and glanced in the direction of the sound as well. There, hovering over their fight, was another merman. He was…beautiful, Shouyou decided, with soft-looking dark curls and a slender but muscled figure. His tail was a mix of black and white, much like the stranger they were next to. This new stranger held himself poised and graceful. His eyes were…_shining?_ Shouyou gasped. The new mer’s eyes were glowing the same colour as those of the leviathans. Shouyou huddled closer to Kenma.

The new merman let out another call. Next to Kenma, Tetsurou bristled.

“What?” he growled as he squared himself with the newcomer. He was stopped. A hand grabbed his arm. He turned and growled at the other stranger, who held him in place. The stranger held his gaze with a glare of his own.

“He’s not talking to you.” His voice was low and cold.

“Then who?” Shouyou heard the question leave his own lips before he could stop it. The stranger regarded him for a second before he turned and gestured to the three beasts frozen in the water.

The other mer let out a call again. His eyes glowed brighter. Nothing happened for a moment. Slowly, the middle Leviathan started to turn. As it moved, the other two withdrew their attacks. Eventually, all three monsters had turned and were leaving the mermen. The new stranger didn’t speak again or move an inch until the Leviathans were no longer visible. The glow left his eyes. Shouyou saw that they were actually dark, and looked gentle, and tired. The mer’s body slumped forward a bit and he groaned. Immediately, the stranger that had been fighting with them shot toward him.

“Keiji!” he shouted. A grin grew on his face and he threw his arms around the other mer, both supporting him and crushing him in a hug all at once. Shouyou tilted his head as he watched the two from behind Tetsurou and Kenma. “Hey! Hey! Keiji! Keiji!” the stranger called as he lowered the newcomer to the ocean floor and sat with him. He gently shook the other mer’s shoulders. “Keijiiiiii!” The second merman – Keiji – stirred and looked around. His eyes fell on the one holding him.

“Koutarou.” His voice was soft, but firm. Koutarou grinned.

“Keiiijiiiiiii!” he cried as he squeezed him closer.

“Kou….I can’t…breathe,” Keiji hissed as he tapped Koutarou’s arms. Koutarou pulled back with a grin.

“Ah sorry sorry! I’m just so glad you’re ok!”

“…I wasn’t the one fighting three leviathans.”

“Well, yeah, but I had help! And I’m the best! They wouldn’t have defeated me!”

“I see.” Keiji stretched and leaned away from Koutarou. “I won’t come to stop them next time, then.”

“Eh? Nooo! Keiji, you’re amazing!” Koutarou threw his arms around him again. “Don’t leave me!” Keiji sighed.

“Quit acting like a guppy,” he replied as he shoved the other off of him and picked himself up off the ocean floor. Koutarou pouted for 0.5 of a second before his expression shifted to excited.

“Oh! Speaking of guppies!! I found us one,” he announced proudly. Keiji blinked.

“What.”

Koutarou didn’t answer, but spun around and darted toward Tetsurou, Kenma, and Shouyou. He grabbed Shouyou’s arm and pulled him toward Keiji.

“Oi! The hell do you think you’re doing?” Tetsurou demanded as he grabbed Shouyou’s other arm and yanked him back. Koutarou blinked and faced him.

“Shou isn’t yours,” Kenma argued with a glare. Keiji swam up beside Koutarou with a sigh.

“Kou, you can’t just take their guppy,” he reprimanded. Shouyou blinked and looked at Tetsurou and Kenma.

“You guys have a guppy? Where is it? How come you never told me??” he demanded. He looked around. “Did you guys leave it at home? Who’s watching it?” Kenma put his hands on Shouyou’s shoulders, effectively stopping his frantic movements.

“He means you, Shou,” he clarified. Shouyou blinked at Kenma. He turned and looked at Tetsurou, who nodded. He whirled around and faced Koutarou and Keiji with a frown.

“I’m not a GUPPY!” He protested, his hands in fists at his side.

“But, you’re so _small_,” Koutarou replied with a confused frown. He patted Shouyou’s head, as if to prove his point.

“Guppies are babies! I’m not a baby!” Shouyou ducked away from his hand.

“How old are you, then?” Keiji asked calmly. Shouyou glanced at him. His face was open and relaxed. Shouyou hesitated and looked down. He played with his fins as he answered.

“I’m one-hundred and ten,” he mumbled.

“Whaaaat?” Shouyou’s eyes shot up to Koutarou’s shocked face. “How are you that old already and that small???!” Shouyou flinched.

“Eh, that’s younger than I thought you were, Shrimp,” Tetsurou interjected. Even Keiji looked surprised. At Tetsurou’s statement he actually backed up.

“What do you mean? He looks like he still has to be less than half a century.”

Koutarou nodded. “Yeah! Except he’s over halfway to being an adult.”

“Barely,” Tetsurou reminded. Kenma rolled his eyes.

“Tetsurou, you’re not good at guessing ages,” he stated matter-of-factly.

“How old did you think I was? How old?? How old?!” Shouyou gripped Tetsurou’s arm. His eyes shone and his tail and fins danced behind him.

“Figured you had to be at least one-fifty.” Tetsurou shrugged. Shouyou’s face lit up. He let go of Tetsurou and screeched as he did a flip and raced around him in the water.

“So cool!!!! I look that old?? That’s as old as Tobio!!!!”

“You don’t,” Kenma interrupted. “Tetsurou’s just really bad at guessing ages. He thinks anyone over a meter has to be one-fifty.”

“I’m not _that _bad.”

Kenma fixed Tetsurou with a look.

“That aside,” Keiji stated, “who are you and what are you doing in our pod’s territory?” He crossed his arms over himself and drew himself up to his full height. He was shorter than Koutarou, but his posture was intimidating. Shouyou looked up at his face, and for a moment, it was like he was back home, being scolded by Koushi and Daichi. His tail flicked side to side anxiously.

“Um…” Keiji’s gaze locked on him and he shifted and tugged on his pelvic fins. “M-my name is Shouyou…I got taken away from my pod by humans, so I’m going back.” He looked down as he spoke, tail pink and ear fins drooped.

“…You don’t have to be afraid.” Keiji’s voice was softer and gentler now. Shouyou snuck a peek at his face, and his expression had softened. His eyes were no longer stern, but warm and encouraging. “I’m sorry if I scared you.” He gave a small smile. Shouyou stared at him. Then he felt a grin stretch across his face.

“Ok!” He straightened up. Tetsurou shifted closer with Kenma right behind him.

“I’m Tetsurou. And this is Kenma. We’re from the Nekoma Pod.” He folded his arms and glared at Koutarou. “We’re helping Shouyou return to his pod.” Kenma nodded.

“I see,” Keiji responded. He surveyed the three of them for a moment. “You all must be exhausted. Nekoma’s border is over a day away, and you were up against three large creatures. As well as this one.” He nodded his head in Koutarou’s direction at the last statement.

“Hey! Keijiiiiiiiiii!” Koutarou whined. Keiji ignored him.

“You should come with us. We can provide you a place to rest, as well as food, and anything else you may need to have replaced,” he offered as he stretched out his hand toward them. Tetsurou regarded him for a moment.

“That…sounds like a good idea,” he admitted. He shook Keiji’s hand. Keiji smiled.

“You can stay in our den,” he announced, “there’s plenty of space, and neither of us will mind.” He let go of Tetsurou’s hand and gestured for them to follow him. The three of them matched his pace easily.

“_I_ will! _I_ will mind _very much_! KEEEEEEEIJIIII! Hey! Don’t ignore me!!!” Koutarou trailed after the rest of them.


	7. Separated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are many dangers in the water.

“So, what you two did back there, was that…_beast speak_?” Tetsurou waited until they were in the den of the Fukurodani pod-members before he asked. Keiji turned to him as he took off his hunting belt and knife.

“Yeah. It’s what Fukurodani is known for,” he replied calmly.

“What’s ‘beast speak’?” Shouyou asked, his head tilted and ears perked up. Koutarou grinned at him.

“We can talk to the creatures of the ocean, hear them, and understand them. If you’re really good, you can even control them! I can control _almost_ _any_ creature in the ocean, if I wanted to,” he responded, chest puffed out in pride.

“Woooooaaahh!!!! So cool!” Shouyou’s face lit up and he grinned in excitement. Koutarou nodded. He pointed at Keiji.

“Keiji’s even _more_ cool!” He announced. Keiji’s cheeks turned pink.

“D-don’t lie,” he mumbled as he turned away. “I can hear everything, but I can’t control near as many species as you can.”

“It’s not a lie!” Koutarou protested. He turned back to Shouyou. “Keiji’s the only one who can control the Leviathans.” Shouyou’s eyes went wide. He whirled around to look at Keiji.

“REALLY?!!”

Keiji nodded slightly.

“AWESOME!”

“RIGHT?!!” Koutarou grinned at Keiji as he spoke. Keiji blushed and looked at the floor of the den. He shook his head.

“Nevermind that,” he mumbled as he turned away from them. He ran his hand through his hair and his tail flicked absentmindedly behind him. “We need to figure out a way to convince our Pod it's ok to let you stay for a while.”

“What do you mean, ‘stay for a while’? Why can’t we leave?” Shouyou asked.

“Yeah!” Koutarou agreed. “I mean, Shouyou can stay. But do the other two _have_ to?”

“Hey!” Tetsurou glared at him. “We’re helping him get home! We’re not leaving without him.” Koutarou glared back and stuck out his tongue.

“You could go home! I’ll help him the rest of the way.”

Kenma drew closer to Shouyou and watched the other two warily. Keiji groaned and rubbed his temples. He turned around and snapped “you two stop right now! If you have to fight about who’s in charge, do it outside! Honestly.” He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair again. He looked over at Shouyou and Kenma as he continued speaking. “The direction you need to go isn’t safe right now. There’s more incoming beasts that travel through this part of the waters during this season. They’ll be through in a few days, but until they are, even our own pod wouldn’t dare to be out travelling long distances; something _this one_” he shot a glare at Koutarou “seems to have forgotten about. And Kou, they can stay. You know we can’t just leave our pod to escort someone, you’re the Pod’s _Leader_. What would we do if something happened to you?” Koutarou blinked at him.

“Then everyone would follow you,” he replied with a confident grin.

“I wasn’t asking for an answer. It was rhetorical. And take this more seriously! Those beasts can tear our kind apart! It’s bad enough you could’ve _died _today.” Keiji’s body was tense. His tail snapped side to side in the water and his fins flared. His eyes were dark and cold. Koutarou blinked at the sudden change in posture. There was silence for a moment.

“Ok,” Koutarou answered finally. He backed away from Tetsurou a little. “I’ll be serious. I’ll call a meeting, and then tell them…we’re helping out some wanderers. Because no one deserves to be torn to shreds by those beasts.” His golden eyes held resolve in them as he spoke, and Keiji’s fins slowly relaxed until he no longer looked tense. He nodded.

“Ok.”

Koutarou left the den. Tetsurou cleared his throat and Keiji turned to him inquisitively.

“You’re saying that guy is the _leader_ of this pod?” Tetsurou demanded incredulously. Keiji nodded.

“He inherited it when his parents passed,” he replied. He sighed and continued “I know he doesn’t seem like much of a leader; he’s brash and doesn’t always think things through, but he does his best. He has a big heart. He understands our Pod members, knows how to talk to them. Those are important skills, too. And he’s actually improved a lot.” Keiji gave them a small smile. “He’ll have everyone on your side. You’ll be safe here, don’t worry.”

***

‘A few days’ turned out to be a week and a half. Shouyou watched as Keiji and Koutarou listened at the edge of their den every morning, determining where the beasts were, how many were there, and which areas would be safe for merpeople. Apparently out of the entire pod, these two had the best hearing when it came to listening for other creatures. Once they had that information, they would pass it along to other Pod members via fish messengers, and life would continue as normal for the group. Shouyou spent a good majority of his days following Koutarou around, watching him interact with his Pod. The larger mer jokingly called Shouyou his ‘new little brother’ whenever anyone asked. Tetsurou was never far behind, refusing to leave Shouyou with the Fukurodani leader alone. Kenma spent more time interacting with Keiji.

It was on the day when Keiji announced the last of the beasts should be going through, and travel would be safe the next day, that everything went to hell in a handbasket.

Shouyou was flitting about near Koutarou, who was directing a hunting group on which territory he could hear a large school of fish passing through. He played with some crabs crawling along the ocean floor. Suddenly, a distressed call snatched his attention. Shouyou’s head shot up and he froze, as did everyone else. The call was far away, and sounded strange, like it was echoing. It came again. A cry for someone to come. Someone was being searched for. Shouyou stared in the direction of the call. Someone else started to speak but he didn’t pay them any mind. The cry sounded again and he made up his mind. Shouyou shot off in the direction of the call, ignoring the shouts behind him and pleas for him to come back.

The voice became louder and louder as Shouyou drew closer. _Is it one of my Pod? Not Tobio or Yuu, it sounds different, higher pitched…one of the girls maybe? Yachi? _Shouyou let out an answering trill and shouted “I’m coming! I’m coming! It’s me, Shouyou!” The cries continued, as if they hadn’t heard him. Frustrated, Shouyou sped up, vaguely aware of Koutarou and Tetsurou chasing after him, but not caring. “I’m coming! It’s Shouyou! I’m here!” As he continued onward, Shouyou saw a ship come into view. It was a strange one, with a device in the water next to it. The cries were coming from the direction of the ship and Shouyou felt his blood turn to ice. _They’re trapped. Like I was. I have to help._ He threw himself toward the ship.

“Shouyou! Stop!” Koutarou shouted from behind him. It was then that Shouyou saw the net. The net around him. The net rising. Panic shot through his veins. He froze. A strong hand grabbed his arm and yanked him back, out of the net’s range. Shouyou was spun around to face a furious-looking Koutarou. “What the hell are you doing?! You could get yourself caught, or killed, or, or, AGH!” The older mer threw his hands upward in frustration. Tetsurou was right behind him, out of breath from chasing the other two, but looking just as upset.

“Bu-but, the mer, the one- the one on the sh-ip,” Shouyou gasped out as he pointed at the ship with the empty net. Koutarou glanced at it and then back to Shouyou.

“Can’t you tell a fake call when you hear one?” he demanded. He pointed at the small device next to the ship that had a pole connecting it. “They use that to send out fake signals and call our kind to them so they can capture us!” Shouyou shrank backward and looked down. His fins lowered and he trembled.

“I thought…I thought it was my Pod. I thought they were looking for me,” he sniffled. There was silence. A hand on his arm prompted him to look up at Koutarou. His face was more relaxed, no longer showing his stress and his golden eyes were softer.

“Hey, hey,” he murmured. “It’s alright. I’m sorry I yelled. If you didn’t know, then you didn’t know. I’ll just have to teach you.” He smiled as he spoke and Shouyou gave him a tentative smile back. He looked at Tetsurou, who was looking around.

“Uh, not to ruin your moment or whatever, but isn’t this where you and Keiji said the last of those beasts would be travelling through today?” He asked. Koutarou glanced around and then cursed.

“Yeah.” He tucked Shouyou under his arm and started back the way they’d come. “Let’s hurry up and get out of here before something else answers the humans’ fake calls.” No sooner had the words left him than he froze and looked over his shoulder.

“Shit, they’re already here, aren’t they?” Tetsurou replied. Koutarou nodded and turned his face forward.

“Let’s move!” The three of them raced away from the ship and the oncoming creatures. Shouyou dared a glance over his shoulder and regretted it. He saw the shadowy form of a large creature reach upward, toward the ship, and drag it down. The movement disrupted the water and the force of it caused them all to stumble. Shouyou cried out as he was separated from Koutarou’s hold. Tetsurou reached for him but was too far away. Something cold and thick wrapped around him and yanked him backward. Shouyou screamed.

Tetsurou and Koutarou both rushed toward him, but another tail swung up. They stopped to avoid being hit. Shouyou struggled in the grasp of the tail. He scratched and bit as he squirmed, and thrust all his focus into becoming smaller. He shrank and slid out. With a triumphant cry, he darted to Tetsurou, who was closer than Koutarou, and the older mer caught him in his arms. Around them, the debris of the human’s ship floated through the water. The three of them wove in and out of the debris as they dodged more swipes from the creature that attacked them.

Tetsurou dodged a scrap of metal, only to come face to face with a human, trying to claw its way back to the surface. He skirted around them, but was taken out by a blow from the front this time. Shouyou slipped out of his arms as he was knocked down by the weight of another tail. A head reared up over Tetsurou, as massive as the ship that was destroyed, with rows upon rows of sharp teeth and beady black eyes. Scales adorned the creature, shaped like a serpent but with legs, short in comparison to its body and tipped with deadly claws. The creature screeched. Tetsurou twisted and squirmed out of the way. He saw Koutarou scoop up Shouyou and followed the two of them away from the beasts. They swam without speaking, Koutarou leading them away.

Finally, they reached a small underwater cavern and ducked inside. All three were panting. Shouyou had stuck close, swimming in his smaller form until they reached the relative safety of the cave and he shifted back to his normal size.

“What…the fuck…was that?” Tetsurou gasped. His gills flared and his fins flicked up and down irritably as he struggled to breathe. Koutarou shook his head.

“Sea…Dragon,” he replied, also short on breath. A loud roar punctuated his statement and all three flinched and looked out of the cave. In the distance, they could see one of the dragons twisting and turning it's long body as it searched for them in the water. “There were at least three of them,” Koutarou continued when it became apparent the dragon had lost their trail. “They feed on mers regularly.”

“I thought those were just a scary story!” Shouyou interrupted. Koutarou shook his head.

“They’re very real. But they stick to their same territories and migratory patterns. That’s how Keiji knew it wouldn’t be safe for you guys. The Leviathans come through first, and the dragons follow, when the seasons change. Neither one is something you wanna go up against.”

“Couldn’t you use your beast speak and get them to leave us alone?” Tetsurou asked as he watched the retreating figure of the Sea Dragon.

“I can’t control the Sea Dragons, like how I can’t control the Leviathans. Keiji can manipulate the Leviathans, but even he can’t control the dragons. No one’s been able to do that for centuries, according to our Pod’s history; not since we first settled here,” Koutarou answered as he relaxed onto the ocean floor. “We should rest here for a day, make sure the dragons are gone back to their migratory pattern.”

“Can’t we just swim back to the pod?” Shouyou asked. Tetsurou shook his head.

“No, we’re separated by the dragons now. They’d be between us and the pod. We should at least wait until enough time has passed for them to move on,” he replied. Another sound cut through the silence. Shouyou’s ears flicked up and he brightened, but as he listened, his expression fell.

“Another fake call?” He tilted his head and looked at Koutarou, who nodded.

“We need to get out of here,” Koutarou stated as he became upright again. His eyes were on the distant form of the dragon. Shouyou looked at it too, but he couldn’t tell if it was still moving away. “It’s not far away enough not to have heard that.”

“Idiot humans!” Tetsurou muttered as he got ready to swim.

“Can’t we just stay here, then?” Shouyou didn’t fancy swimming farther away from the pod, and definitely not right after sprinting such a far distance. Koutarou shook his head.

“You saw the damage it did. It’ll do that again. We need to get out of here, this cave isn’t safe if that thing decides to bring its buddies and go on a rampage.” His face was grim. Tetsurou nodded, his eyes dark and calculating.

“We should leave now then,” he agreed. Shouyou readied himself and followed as the other two darted out of the small cave and away from the now reapproaching dragon. They passed the ship on their way, and Shouyou felt a small twinge of empathy for the fate of those aboard, but he shoved it down and continued on. The humans had decided their own fate when they tried to lure unsuspecting merpeople into their traps.


	8. From Bad to Worse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wreckage from the dragons' attack ruins Fukurodani's territory. 
> 
> Shouyou, Koutarou, and Tetsurou finally outrun the dragons.

Keiji liked spending time around Kenma. He was quiet and a bit of a relief when Koutarou became too much to handle. That was why he stayed with Kenma when the others went around the Pod. It was the last day they would be here, after all, and he wanted to hang out with Kenma. The two of them weren’t talking, just tidying the den. Keiji was able to think and not have to worry about the other getting hurt somehow. Or so he thought. A sudden gasp brought Keiji out of his thoughts, and he turned abruptly, only to see Kenma go still and then drop.

“Kenma!” he called out. The other mer was unresponsive. His body was stiff and trembling. His eyes were wide and unfocused, and moved as if they were tracking something that wasn’t there. His gills flared and his tail snapped from side to side. Keiji rushed to his side. He shoved the shells Kenma had been sorting through away from the mer. “Kenma! Can you hear me?” He got no response. Desperate, Keiji looked to the den entrance. A few small fish swam by. He willed them to come to him, touched their fins, and relayed his message to them. He sent them out to find help as he continued to hold his new friend.

It seemed like forever. No one was coming. Keiji’s heart pounded in his chest and he felt jittery. He clutched Kenma, scared to let him go, as if his grip was what was keeping the other mer safe. Finally, Kenma’s body stopped shaking, and he went limp in Keiji’s arms. Eyes wide, Keiji propped Kenma up and shook him gently. “Kenma! Kenma! Can you hear me??!” His voice sounded panicked and higher than normal. “KENMA!”

The other mer’s eyes slowly blinked open. “Kei-ji?” he asked softly. Keiji sighed in relief.

“You scared me! What happened? You went all stiff and shaky and weren’t answering! What was that?” Keiji knew he was babbling, but he couldn’t stop himself. All the words poured out of his mouth on their own. Kenma groaned as he dragged himself into a sitting position on the den floor.

“I had…a vision,” he mumbled, rubbing his forehead.

“A vision?” Keiji had relaxed substantially. “What was it about?” He sat next to Kenma. Kenma blinked.

“It wasn’t a very clear one. It was muddled. Might have been two visions at once.”

“That can happen?”

“Not very often. And it’s a pain because then I have an even harder time deciphering them.” Kenma frowned and hummed to himself for a moment. Then he spoke again. “Tetsu, Shou, and Koutarou were swimming near a boat. And there was a large…creature? It had scales and feet with claws, like a land-creature, but a body like a serpent.”

“A Sea Dragon?” Keiji offered. Kenma looked at him.

“…sure. I have no idea what that is.”

Keiji’s cheeks turned pink. “Oh, right. Well, it’s the only thing I can think of that matches that kind of description.” Kenma nodded.

“Then there was a change, and it looked like there was a Pod, but it wasn’t mine…or yours. Maybe Shou’s? He was there. And I could see the moon above the water, it was red and full, and shining through some clouds. There were ships; lots of them.” Kenma frowned again. “The water was turning red. There were planks and bits of metal scattered throughout. Then I could see only one ship, and it was torn apart by the…Sea Dragon, but there were three of them.” He shook his head. “And it shifted again and I could see the many ships, with even more humans, and they were fighting and trapping and slaughtering mer.” His voice became more distressed as he continued, and when he finished, Kenma looked at Keiji with wide eyes. “What do we do?”

Keiji chewed his lip as he thought. “The Sea Dragons should be done migrating after today. They stick to their patterns. So that part, if it happens, would be…today.” He frowned as he thought about the rest of the vision. “The red moon…that’s not for a month. If it was Shouyou’s Pod you saw in trouble, we should get word to them as soon as possible so they can prepare.” Kenma nodded. “First, though, we need to make sure the other three aren’t actually facing off against Sea Dragons.”

At that moment, another mer rushed up to the den entrance. “Keiji! Ke-Keiji!” he cried out. “Keiji! Koutarou and the two guests with him went after a human’s fake call! We tried to follow, but they were too fast. It looked like they were safe, but then a Sea Dragon began tearing the human’s ship apart! We couldn’t get too close, for our own safety. We couldn’t see where the other three went through the debris. We have others searching now, but – ”

Keiji interrupted. “Calm down,” he directed. “You were right not to endanger yourselves. There is no point to having more of us in danger than necessary. I will come out to the wreckage and help search. What are the locations on the dragons?”

“They followed after another call. It was distant, but we could tell it was one of the fakes the humans use.”

“Ok. Gather everyone you can to search through the wreckage. Be careful, don’t do anything recklessly. I want to survey the scene before anyone moves anything, we need to be sure we won’t make anything worse. I will come, but first, send me our fastest messenger, we have an important message to send Karasuno Pod.” Keiji’s voice and demeanor were calm, but Kenma noticed his fingers trembled at his sides. As the other mer left on his assignment, Kenma nudged Keiji’s shoulder with his own. The larger mer turned to look at him.

“I…I think it will be ok,” Kenma whispered. “I didn’t see them getting hurt. I mean, that doesn’t mean they didn’t, but…” Keiji smiled.

“Thanks.”

A frightened cry drew them both out of the den. Keiji led the way, toward the wreckage his Pod were investigating. “What’s going on?” he demanded, his voice full of worry. He stopped short as he saw the problem. Fuel. Human fuel. From the ship. _When the dragons tore it apart, they must have hit whatever contained the fuel for the ship,_ Keiji realized. It was spreading everywhere. The water tasted gross on his gills. The other pod members fled the scene, back toward their home. But he knew it wouldn’t be safe for long. “We have to leave,” he murmured to himself. Kenma looked up at him.

“Where?” he asked. Keiji’s eyes flitted back and forth over the mer swimming back past him, trying desperately to get away from the mess.

“We’ll follow the Leviathans,” he answered finally.

“What about Karasuno?”

“We can’t send someone through this. It could kill them.”

“And the other three?”

Keiji bit his lip and his body was tense. “We can only hope they got away.”

“But-”

“I won’t have anyone else endangered any longer. We’re leaving now. You are welcome to come with us, but understand my priority is the Pod. I need to keep them safe. You will be included in that as long as you’re with us, but as soon as you decide to leave, you’re on your own.” Keiji turned and sped back to the Pod’s home. Kenma stared at the wreckage for a second. He gave a mournful cry and turned to follow Keiji.

***

Koutarou was cursing Sea Dragons and their excellent hearing and their superior sense of smell, and their inability to LET PREY GO. They’d been chased for the past two days, and were now squished together in a crevice in a formation of rock. The opening wasn’t easy to spot from outside; one had to pretty much be right in front of it in order to see it. He hoped their sight wasn’t as extraordinary as their other senses, or the three of them might be screwed.

Shouyou was shaking, tucked between him and Tetsurou. Tetsurou grunted in pain and rubbed Shouyou’s arms in a soothing matter while Koutarou strained his ears, listening for any hint of the dragons that had been following them. He couldn’t tell how long they stayed like that, but it was long enough his tail was starting to cramp from the small space. There was no sign of the Sea Dragons. Koutarou inched out of the opening. When he was fully out in open water, he rose up in the water and looked around. He could see no sign of the dragons nearby. He waved for the other two to come out, and they joined him. Tetsurou was half-carried by Shouyou, on account of his missing fin. At the second ship, the dragon had caught up faster than they’d expected. In his attempt to defend Shouyou, Tetsurou’s left pelvic fin got caught in the dragon’s teeth and ripped off. They’d only had time so far for basic care; trying to stop the bleeding and wrapping it to prevent infection. The other mer hissed with pain every time he moved, and he was rather pale from a loss of blood. Koutarou wasn’t sure he’d survive a trip back to Fukurodani Pod. They’d been moving non-stop for two days. If they were to do that again, he would likely lose even more blood as his wound wouldn’t have a chance to heal. But if he didn’t receive proper treatment within the day, there was a good chance he’d get an infection. And there was the problem of sharks and other predators that would be drawn to the scent of blood. They couldn’t afford to move slowly and take their time.

Koutarou looked around. None of his surroundings looked familiar. Tetsurou wasn’t in any condition to assess where they were, his face twisted in pain. Just as he was about to pick a direction and hope for the best, Shouyou spoke up.

“Hey! I know that place,” he exclaimed. He was pointing to a tall stone. It was a bit far off, but still visible, in the direction they had originally been travelling. “It’s a marker. It looks weird, because I’m usually on the other side, but I went past it once, and I’m sure this is it! We’re not far from Karasuno Pod! Our territory starts just on the other side of that marker!”

“You’re sure?” Koutarou asked. He tried not to let the hope flare up inside him too quickly. Shouyou nodded.

“Yes! We should hurry, and – ”

He broke off as a large shadow loomed over them. “Who are you?” an authoritative voice demanded. Shouyou and Koutarou spun around abruptly. Tetsurou groaned as he was jolted and started to slip off Shouyou’s shoulder. Koutarou caught him and adjusted Tetsurou so he was resting more on him than on Shouyou. The newcomer was a large merman with a turquoise tail. His eyes were sharp and cold, and his face was set in a scowl. His hair was spiky, like the spines of a blowfish.

“You got a problem?” Koutarou asked. He positioned himself so that his fins spread in front of Shouyou, shielding him mostly from view. The other mer’s frown deepened.

“You’re in my territory. That’s my problem,” he growled. Koutarou tensed. He didn’t want to fight with another mer on his back, but he wasn’t sure Shouyou could drag Tetsurou that far that fast. And he would have to drag him. Tetsurou had lost enough blood, he wouldn’t be able to move by himself.

“Look, I don’t want to fight. We’re almost out, so just,” he started, but the other mer interrupted.

“You came in here, bringing monsters on your tail, and you think you can just swim on through without any repercussions?” he demanded. Koutarou’s fingers twitched toward the knife on his belt. He didn’t want to fight. But if he had to…

“Wait, please! I’m from Karasuno! We’re just on the other side of that marker, please let us get back there,” Shouyou cried out. He zipped in front of Koutarou, despite the other’s protests. “I was separated from my pod and dragged away, and I was just trying to get back. These guys are helping me, but we were chased by the Sea Dragons and they injured Tetsurou and he’s really badly hurt and we need to get him medicine and please please please just let us go!!!” The mer stared at Shouyou.

“Are…are you Shouyou Hinata, of Karasuno Pod?” he asked finally.


	9. Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karasuno Pod receives good news.
> 
> Kenma and Keiji find a place to settle Fukurodani Pod for the time being.

Tobio glared at the retreating human ship. This was the fourth attack from them this week. Ever since Shouyou was captured, the humans had begun attacking and attempting to capture mers more and more. So far, they’d always driven them off, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.

Daichi was doing a quick count of the wounded. Tobio stretched his arms over his head as he joined the others. He’d been lucky enough not to sustain any injuries. He was almost to the group when he heard it. By the way Tadashi and Kei stiffened, he knew they heard it too.

_We have found Shouyou._ The voice was unmistakeably that of Tooru. All three of them turned in the direction of his pod’s territory.

_What? Where? How?_ Tobio felt all the questions crash through his brain at once.

_Relax. We have him here in our pod. One of his friends is injured and we are tending to him._

Tobio frowned. _Friends?_ He wondered. He didn’t have time to ponder it for long. Tadashi excitedly relayed the message to Daichi, who then ordered them all to return to their home and discuss who would go to retrieve Shouyou and thank the other pod.

As he turned to head back with the others, a noise caught his attention. His ears flicked back and he turned to look over his shoulder. The ship. It was returning. With two more behind it. Tobio’s heart dropped to his stomach.

***

Kenma swam next to Keiji at the head of Fukurodani Pod. He knew none of the other mer, so he stuck to their new leader like a barnacle. Keiji, for his part, didn’t seem to mind. They travelled during the days and slept in a large group in the open at nights, following the path the Leviathans had taken. It had been three days, and the spill was now far enough behind that Keiji would consider stopping for a while. When Kenma voiced concerns about the Sea Dragons, Keiji told him not to worry, that they would move far enough out of the path of the beasts before settling in a temporary home.

Every night, he was plagued by a vision in his sleep; of Shouyou’s pod and the massacre of mers by human hands. It was to the point he was afraid to sleep. Keiji noticed, and tried to offer comforting words, but it was hard when his mate was also in potential danger.

A scout from the pod returned and spoke to Keiji.

“There’s an island with underwater caverns not far from here. It looks to be about a half a day’s travel east. It might be a good place to rest for a few days,” he reported. Keiji nodded.

He turned to the rest of the pod and announced “We’ll be going east, about half a day’s travel, to an island. It should serve as a temporary shelter. The waters will be too shallow for the dragons. We are far enough from the human wreck for now.” There was a general murmur of agreement. Keiji nodded and turned to lead them in the direction of the island. Kenma followed wordlessly. He knew better than to think he could survive in these waters on his own. No mer could be that foolish. Therefore, he stayed with the pod, helped with their daily tasks whenever he could, and made no more mention of going to Karasuno Pod.

The caverns turned out to be a network of underground tunnels in the island’s base, filled with water. They weren’t large, but were enough to house the pod for a time. Once they were somewhat settled, Keiji organized a group to go and hunt and scavenge for food. As they left, he let out a sigh and his shoulders slumped. He turned around and his eyes caught on Kenma.

“Hey, how are you doing?” he asked Kenma with a tired, strained smile. Kenma tilted his head.

“I am alive, and that is always nice,” he replied when he couldn’t think of anything else to say. Keiji laughed softly.

“I suppose that is nice,” he agreed, this time with a more genuine smile. Kenma nodded and looked out at the vast expanse of water they’d travelled.

“Do you think,” he began, but hesitated. Keiji looked at him questioningly.

“Do I think what?”

Kenma bit his lip and his ears twitched. Finally, he continued, “do you think they’re ok?” There was no need to clarify who he was speaking about. Silence stretched on for a few moments.

“I don’t know,” Keiji whispered. He fidgeted with his fingers and his worried eyes scanned the waters, as if he expected to see the trio appear in front of them instantly. “I’ve been listening, trying to hear any mention of them among all the creatures we passed, but I’ve learned nothing.”

Kenma hesitated, choosing his next words carefully. “I know that I said I didn’t see them get hurt. It doesn’t mean they didn’t, but it’s usually a good sign.” Keiji nodded, still not looking at him. Kenma continued “if they didn’t get attacked, but perhaps got chased, then it’s likely they ran and hid.” Another nod. “If…if they were close enough…maybe they went to another pod? For shelter?” At this, Keiji tilted his head and looked at Kenma.

“I suppose it is possible,” he admitted slowly.

“If it was like that,” Kenma added to his theory, “the closest pod would be Nekoma. But they could have also gone to Aobajohsai pod…or even to Karasuno.” Keiji regarded him with guarded eyes.

“…perhaps. But that is far-fetched, don’t you think?”

Kenma’s fins fluttered nervously. He wrung his hands. “What if…I told you that last night, in my vision, the one where the Karsuno Pod is in trouble, I saw Koutarou’s eyes?” He looked down as he spoke, but still saw Keiji’s body tense from the corner of his eyes. Silence stretched on for a minute.

“Are…are you _certain_?” Kenma looked up at Keiji’s face. He was pale, his dark eyes wide, and his fins flared in surprise. Kenma nodded once.

“Yes.”

“Then…that means…he…he’s…”

“I can’t say anything is set in stone, but I saw a mer swimming next to shapeshifters and when I saw his face it was Koutarou’s eyes. Things could change, but as of now, it would seem he is safe and heading in that way.”

Keiji’s breath hitched and his eyes widened further, shining with hope. The expression was gone after a moment, though, and his eyes hardened. “You should know, if you’re lying,” he hissed, his fins spread in an intimidating manner.

“I would never!” Kenma cut him off. “Especially when it has to do with Tetsurou’s fate as well.” Keiji considered this and nodded as he relaxed.

“Right. Sorry. I just…” he trailed off and sighed. “I’m just so stressed about everything that’s happened. I can’t bear to have false hope.”

“I understand,” Kenma murmured. He reached out and patted Keiji’s shoulder. “You’re under a lot of pressure with the responsibility of the pod. But we’re safe for now. I was thinking. Maybe we could send someone to Karasuno? I want to go, but I wouldn’t be able to do it alone. I know you can’t just leave your pod for a trip to another pod where your leader may or may not be, and the journey would be longer as we have to avoid the contaminated waters, but…”

Keiji frowned in thought as he considered the idea. “I will see who would be willing. But I think it would not be unreasonable. Especially as we’ve moved locations. If Koutarou _is_ there, you would be able to pass the message to him, and the other mer could guide him to us…yes, I will look into finding someone to go with you,” he decided. Kenma smiled.

“Thank you.”


	10. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tetsurou is getting the medical attention he needs.
> 
> Karsuno pod is up against three ships of humans.

Tooru opened his eyes and face Shouyou. “I’ve contacted your pod members,” he announced. Shouyou smiled.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” he cried as he threw himself at the other mer and hugged him around the waist. He pulled back after a moment and looked up at Tooru’s face. “Can you tell…is Tetsurou ok?” he asked as he let go of him.

Tooru sighed. He looked over Shouyou’s head at Koutarou, who had a grim expression. “I can’t tell you at the moment. When our medics are working on someone, we don’t interrupt them. They will tell me when they are finished and you can go and see him. He lost a lot of blood and the wound was pretty deep, so I don’t know how long it will take.”

Shouyou nodded solemnly. A sudden weight on his shoulder startled him and he turned to see Koutarou behind him, hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, Shouyou, while we’re waiting for him, why don’t we go and check out the area! Tooru will come and get us when it’s time, right?” Koutarou suggested with a grin. Tooru nodded when they looked at him questioningly. Shouyou’s smile brightened, and so did his tail, almost back to its original bright orange. Tooru noticed the scars along it, white discoloured scales, and he winced internally. He waited for the two of them to leave, then he settled himself in the corner of his den.

_ Hajime,_ he called internally, reaching out telepathically to the other merman. _Hey, Hajime._

_ What?_ Came the reply. Tooru smiled as he imagined the other’s exasperated expression, but his smile soon faded.

_What do you think happened to that little shrimp?_

_ ‘Shrimp’?_

_ The little Karasuno mer._

_ …He was captured by humans…you know this._

_ But, did you see the scars? On his tail? Humans don’t make scars like that, especially not on the tail, they want the scales in good condition._

Tooru didn’t get a reply in words, but he felt Hajime’s dissatisfaction, curiosity, and sympathy directed toward the little orange merman.

***

Shouyou laughed as he darted around the pod with Koutarou. He’d challenged Shouyou to a game of tag, and Shouyou had full intentions on winning. He wove in and out of the pod members and various fish and plants in the area. All thoughts of injuries and anxiety over returning to his own Pod left his mind as he swam.

Shouyou glanced over his shoulder. Koutarou was right behind him, arm stretched out. Shouyou ducked out of the way and glanced back again. Koutarou was…stopped? Shouyou slowed himself to a stop, hovering in the water. Koutarou’s face was turned away, his ears twitching, listening. Shouyou tilted his head and perked up his ears to listen as well. At first, he heard nothing out of the ordinary. Then, there was a noise that made his blood freeze and his heart stutter. It was a charge, a battle-cry. The voice was faint, but it was deeper than his own, passionate, vicious. He’d know that voice anywhere.

“T-tobio?” he murmured. Koutarou swung around to face him, but Shouyou wasn’t looking at him. His body was tense and his eyes wide, as if he could see farther just by opening them more.

“Shou,” Koutarou began, but Shouyou heard the cry again. He shot forward in the direction of the noise. “Shouyou! Wait!”

Shouyou did not wait. He darted in and out of the other mer, all of whom were now trying to stop him. He couldn’t be stopped. Not now. Not when his pod members were in danger. His heart pounded erratically in his chest. His gills flared, seeking all the oxygen they could get. His tail whipped back and forth and his fins tucked up against him to streamline his figure. As he sped off, his tail grew darker and darker in colour.

Shouyou didn’t register anything that was going on around him aside from where he wanted to be. He didn’t see Hajime try to grab him, or note that others had called Tooru out to catch him. He didn’t stop.

In front of him, several small figures came into view, with one large shadow above them. A ship. No. Three ships. And a bunch of mer attacking them. Shouyou cried out; a trill that sang of his anger at his pod being attacked and a warning threat to the ships. He picked up the pace, unaware he was being followed. His sight was set on an all-too-familiar figure.

“Tobio! TOBIO!!” he shouted as he darted toward him. The mer turned, his tail shimmering black with his rage. Upon seeing Shouyou, his glare lessened, eyes widened in surprise.

“Shou..you?” he whispered. He stared and Shouyou stopped, a few feet away. Shouyou’s fins trembled and his tail became a bright orange. He grinned, and was about to speak, when a harpoon dart flashed between them in the water, sharp and barbed. Shouyou drew back and Tobio turned to glare at the new threat. He hissed, fins flared out and tail snapping angrily in the water. It was then that Shouyou registered the whole scene: three ships, with humans shooting barbed weapons into the water, casting nets over mer that limited movements and caused them to sink. Shouyou winced as one of their sound projectors suddenly made a loud, incomprehensible shriek, forcing all the mer to stop and defend their sensitive ears. It was at that moment that they raised up a net, surrounding Tadashi and Yuu. With their minds still reeling from the loud screech, they couldn’t hope to be coherent enough to change size and escape. The net had them.

Shouyou shrieked in outrage, having been farther from the sound and thus recovering faster, and he leapt forward toward the net. There was a shout from his side and an arm wrapped around his waist, while someone else grabbed his right arm.

“Let go! Let go! Let GO!” Shouyou cried as he struggled to move forward. He turned to glare at his captors, to see Tobio had him around the waist and Koutarou held his arm. Koutarou looked like his ears were still ringing, and Shouyou realized they must be extra sensitive in order for his affinity to work. He felt a pang of sympathy before pushing it aside. _I never asked him to follow me!_ He justified to himself, though another part of him insisted he was just being petty because Koutarou helped stop him from rushing ahead.

Two blurs passed Shouyou, and he could see Tooru and Hajime, swimming easily toward the net, as if the sound hadn’t bothered them in the slightest. Another screech was projected from the human machine, but they swam on, undaunted, while everyone else struggled to defend their ears. Shouyou was certain if he was above water he would shed tears from the pain.

The two reached the net as it broke the surface. Tooru threw himself onto the top and rose with the net as he used a knife of bone to cut the top, while Hajime grabbed the bottom and pulled downward. The instant the netting broke, Yuu and Tadashi were freed and Tooru slid into the water; but not before a fast human shot a harpoon at him.

Tooru hissed and grabbed his side where the weapon knicked him. His blood spilled into the water and swirled around him. Hajime snarled and grabbed Tooru to drag him away from the ships. As he did, Tooru grabbed the metal sound machine and tore it off its connection to the ship.

“We need to retreat!” someone yelled. It was Koushi.

“We need a distraction! Or they’ll follow us!” Daichi responded. The water had cleared enough from the sound now that they could at least understand each other.

At his words, Koutarou perked up. He turned about, releasing his hold on Shouyou’s arm now that he was more settled. He scanned the water for a moment, then let out a low, musical sound, much like he had for the whales when they fought the Leviathans. Shouyou watched, eagerly. There was no response.

“What” Tobio started, but Shouyou shushed him. Koutarou called again. And again. And again.

After the fourth call, his ears twitched and his eyes brightened. He called again. This time, Shouyou could hear the reply. Apparently, so could several other mer, as some of them glanced in that direction. Then, he could see them. Dark shadows in the blue water. Koutarou grinned. He turned to Shouyou.

“Wait out of range of the ships. I’m going to help until the whales arrive,” he told him.

“No way!” Shouyou protested. “I wanna help!”

“You don’t have any experience! You’ll be in the way. Take your friend with you. From what I can tell, he’s also pretty young, and neither of you should actually be out here,” Koutarou replied with a firm tug, pulling the two of them out of the way.

“But” Tobio protested. Koutarou shook his head.

“Stay out of the way!” He warned. His eyes had a cold glint to them. Shouyou shuddered but obeyed and dragged Tobio back with him. Koutarou nodded once he was satisfied at their distance and darted in to help the others who were dodging weapons and nets, and trying to damage the ships or crew members enough to get them to leave.

It was only a few moments later that the whales arrived. Large and beautiful, with a low wail they bumped against the ships, forcing them to rock and sway even more than they normally would on the water. Karsuno Pod and the three who’d followed Shouyou pulled back.

“What the hell is going on?” someone demanded, Shouyou couldn’t see who.

“A distraction!” Koutarou replied, rather cheerfully. Realization crossed the faces of all the mer, and they began to retreat.

“Shouyou! Come on,” Tobio stated and he grabbed Shouyou’s hand to pull him. Shouyou yanked back.

“No, wait. I have to go back! I have a friend and he’s injured and I need to know he’s ok! I have to go with Tooru!” He replied and he turned and swam in that direction. “I’ll come back, I promise! I just have to see my friend,” Shouyou cried over his shoulder to a dumbstruck Tobio. Someone else grabbed Tobio, and when he turned toward them, Shouyou could see it was Daichi. He met Daichi’s surprised gaze and gave a small wave and a smile before he faced forward and focused on getting back to Tetsurou. Now that his pod wasn’t in danger, he hoped the medics were done with him and he could see Tetsurou.

He had only swam a few feet before a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Shouyou looked up at Koutarou, who towered over him. “Where are you going?” he demanded. Shouyou squirmed away from his grasp.

“I’m going to check on Tetsurou! With you, and Tooru, and Hajime!” He responded, head tilted in confusion. Koutarou should know this.

Koutarou shook his head. “No, you need to go to your pod. Isn’t that the whole reason you came all this way?”

“But, what about- ”

Koutarou cut him off. “You go back with your pod. I’ll be staying with Tetsurou, if anything’s wrong I’ll come get you or whatever. When he’s stable, then you can visit or I can bring him to you. But you should go with your pod. Be with your family.”

Shouyou’s lip trembled as he looked at him and his tail was a dull gray colour. “But…I…”

“Hey, hey! It’ll be ok, ok? Like I said, I’ll be with him. We’ll see you when he’s better, ok?”

Shouyou nodded. “Ok,” he whispered. He turned around and swam back to his pod members. Tobio looked ready to yell at him, but Daichi put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. He came forward and slid an arm around Shouyou and Tobio both and guided them quickly back toward the rest of their pod.


	11. Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shouyou gets to see Koutarou and Tetsurou. 
> 
> Kenma delivers an important message.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I sort of addressed this before in an earlier chapter, but in this story, merpeople age at a different rate than humans, to the point where anyone under ten years of age is actually considered to be an infant. Just a heads up so certain parts of this chapter make more sense.

It was three days before Tetsurou recovered enough to visit Shouyou’s pod. When Shouyou saw Koutarou and him swimming his way, he shrieked and barrelled into the two of them. His tail was a bright orange and he grinned from ear to ear.

“Oof,” Tetsurou grunted. Koutarou laughed.

“Easy there, guppy,” he chided with a grin. “He still has a hard time balancing.” Tetsurou shot him a glare.

“I can balance just fine,” he protested, though now that Shouyou looked, he did look a bit off-kilter. He was still missing a fin on his one side, but it was no longer bleeding. The scales were a mess where the fin used to meet his tail. Overall, it looked painful. Shouyou backed up, ears dropping.

“S-sorry,” he mumbled. Then he straightened with a smile. “But I’m just so happy Tetsurou’s ok!” Tetsurou smirked.

“Of course I’m ok, Shrimp,” he drawled. Shouyou fidgeted.

“I’m not a shrimp!” he protested. A shadow loomed over Shouyou and he glanced back to see Tobio glaring at the other two. He grinned up at him. “Tobio! These are the friends I was telling you about! They helped me get back home. There’s two more but they weren’t with us when we got attacked by the dragons. Dragons, Tobio!! There are actual Sea Dragons!”

Tobio sighed at that and rolled his eyes. “Sea Dragons are a myth, dumbass!”

“No they’re not! And don’t call me that, that’s a bad word!!” Shouyou snapped back, tail darkening slightly. His fins bristled. “One of the dragons ripped off Tetsurou’s fin! How do you explain _that_?” Tetsurou winced at the mention of his injury.

“So noisy,” a bored voice drawled. “King, don’t you think you’re tormenting the little shrimp too much?” Kei swam forward. His expression was neutral, his flicking tail the only sign of any annoyance. “He just got back and you’re already fighting with him. It’s so irritating.” His eyes flicked to the visitors. “My apologies you had to witness this level of immaturity. They’re idiots, so please forgive them.” He reached over and grabbed Tobio’s arm to lead him away.

“Hey! What!” Tobio exclaimed as he was dragged away. Tadashi, always shadowing Kei, grabbed his other arm and assisted.

“Tobio, he just got to see his injured friend. Let him have some time to visit them,” Tadashi interrupted. Shouyou tilted his head as he watched Tobio get dragged from view. Then he whirled around and faced his friends.

“Do you guys wanna come to my family’s den? It’s not far and we can all rest there!” His smile was practically glowing. Tetsurou and Koutarou had no choice but to nod. Koutarou supported some of Tetsurou’s weight as they swam, guiding him to make sure he swam straight without too much difficulty.

When they entered the den, Shouyou was immediately bombarded with a smaller, just-as-orange mer, shrieking “Shou! Shou!” He laughed and hoisted the tiny mer into his arms.

“This is my little sister, Natsu!” he introduced. “She hasn’t even reached her first decade yet but she’s already so fast!” He pointed at the two mer in the entrance, who suddenly both felt very large. “That’s Tetsurou and that one’s Koutarou,” he told Natsu with a smile. She clung to her brother with one hand and waved excitedly at them with the other. Shouyou led them to a nest of seaweed, algae, and sand, where the four of them settled. “Sorry Tobio wasn’t being very friendly. He’s always grumpy,” Shouyou stated.

“He needs to lighten up a little,” Koutarou observed. Shouyou nodded.

“Nice to know that you’re universally referred to as ‘shrimp’, though,” Tetsurou joked with a grin. Shouyou pouted. “But what was up with that Tobio-guy’s nickname? King? Really?”

“Oh.” Shouyou shifted a squirming Natsu in an attempt to get more comfortable while still holding her on his lap. “When we were little, all four of us, that’s me, Tobio, Kei, and Tadashi, would play together because we were closest in age, and usually one of the older mer, like Yuu, would watch us. But Tobio was always really bossy and he expected us to do whatever he told us. So Kei started to call him ‘King’. But not in a nice way! Tobio used to get all pouty about it and wander off alone. But then we all got in trouble because he wandered off and we followed him and then we got chased by a shark! So then Tobio stopped running off whenever Kei used it and then he stopped reacting as much as he used to. I guess as we got older it just became his nickname. He still doesn’t like it when Kei uses it in front of other people, though. He gets embarrassed.”

“Eh, is that so? Well, Shou, you just let me know if he gets too bossy again, and big-brother Koutarou will take care of it!” Koutarou declared with a smile. Tetsurou rolled his eyes.

“How is he supposed to learn to stick up for himself if you jump in? Plus, you’ll be too far away to help in time, idiot,” he retorted. Koutarou's ears drooped a little as he considered this.

“What dat?” Natsu asked, drawing everyone's attention to Shouyou's tail. Shouyou glanced down at her to see her pointing to the scars on his tail from the shark bites.

“Those are my scars, Natsu,” he told her. He gave her a gentle smile. Natsu tilted her head, looking every bit like her older brother, except smaller.

“Scaws?” she repeated. Shouyou nodded. The little mer reached out and traced one pale, raised line with her chubby fingers. “Pwetty.” Shouyou laughed.

“If you say so,” he answered. Natsu looked up at him and laughed too. Tetsurou couldn’t help the smile that stole onto his face as he watched. He glanced at Koutarou to see he had a similar grin.

“You know, Natsu,” Tetsurou started. The little mer turned to him with large brown eyes. “Those scars hurt very much to get. Your brother was really strong and brave.” Her eyes went even wider and she turned her face upward to her brother again.

“Shou hurt?”

Shouyou shook his head quickly. “Not anymore! Not anymore, Natsu,” he soothed her.

“Yeah, he’s all healed up, ‘cause he’s so tough,” Koutarou added. Natsu stared at him. Then she nodded.

“Shou tough!” she agreed.

Tetsurou looked at Shouyou over her head. “You know, she is pretty advanced for someone so young. Most don’t speak much before their tenth year, and they’re usually shy.” Shouyou beamed with pride.

“Yup! That’s Natsu! She’s amazing! She’ll be the smartest one in her age group!” he announced.

A sudden shout drew their attention to outside. Shouyou craned his neck in an attempt to see outside without moving Natsu. He was unsuccessful. Yuu burst into the den.

“Shouyou!” he gasped, out of oxygen. “Th-there’s someone…he says he knows you. Says we’re in trouble…Ukai wants you to come now!” Shouyou bolted up, dropping Natsu. He stumbled to catch her, but Tetsurou caught her instead.

“You go ahead,” he told Shouyou. “I’ll watch over your baby sister for you.”

“A-are you sure? She can be a handful…” Shouyou trailed off. His tail flicked anxiously. Tetsurou smirked.

“I think I can handle her.”

“Shou, I’ll come with you,” Koutarou volunteered. Shouyou nodded distractedly and they followed Yuu out of the den.

There were two strange mer in the midst of the Karasuno Pod. One was an average height, with a black and white tail and soft, brown hair. The other was shorter and had brown hair that faded to blonde and a red tail.

“Akinori?” Koutarou asked as they came into view.

When Shouyou caught sight of the new visitors, he cried “Kenma!” and launched himself at the mer. He giggled as he hugged his friend. “I’m so glad to see you!” Kenma smiled at him softly.

“I’m glad to see you as well,” he greeted. He looked up at Koutarou. “Hello Koutarou. Is Tetsurou with you two?” Koutarou nodded.

“Yeah, but he’s injured so we left him at Shou’s,” he replied. Kenma’s eyes widened slightly before he recovered.

“I see.”

Koutarou turned to his own podmate. “Akinori. What are you doing here?”

“I was sent with Kenma to make sure he made it here safe. He has a message for the pod of Karasuno,” Akinori answered simply. He reached down to his belt, woven from old netting, and pulled off what looked to be an old tooth, curved and pointed, but worn smooth by water. “Keiji said to give you this.” He handed the tooth to Koutarou. Koutarou contemplated it for a second, before he turned to Kenma with a serious face.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” he asked, uncharacteristically calm. Kenma nodded.

“So you do know these mer, Shouyou?” Ukai interrupted. Shouyou nodded, arms still around Kenma’s waist as he continued to hug him. “Would they be telling the truth? Are we in danger?”

Shouyou looked up at Kenma, who nodded. Shouyou turned his face back to Ukai. “Kenma can see the future. It’s his Pod’s affinity. If he says we’re in trouble, we are,” he answered honestly. Ukai frowned.

“How come the other Nekoma mer didn’t warn us?” he demanded with a glare. Kenma’s fins bristled and he met the pod leader’s gaze evenly.

“Not everyone is gifted with visions of what is to come,” he stated bluntly. “Tetsurou is more gifted in finding people who need to be found. He gets a feeling, it tells him where to go but not what is happening.”

“Hmph.” Ukai crossed his arms, still looking as if he was in doubt.

“What is it that you saw, then?” a voice asked. Shouyou glanced over to see Daichi, with Koushi next to him. “What concerned you so much you travelled all this way to warn us?” Daichi spoke with his arms crossed, mimicking Ukai’s pose.

“Blood. In the water. And humans. Lots of them. They were slaughtering and capturing your pod.” Kenma’s tone did not change as he spoke, but around him several mer gasped and drew back.

“When?!” Ukai demanded.

“When the moon is full and red,” Kenma answered truthfully.

“That’s only three weeks away!” Koushi exclaimed in a worried voice. “What do we do, Ukai?”

Ukai frowned and bit his lip. “We could move,” he stated after some deliberation.

“No way!” another voice shouted. It was Tanaka. “We can’t give in to the humans like that! Besides, where would we go to? Is there another safe place that isn’t already taken?”

“If we leave, the humans will still come! What if, because we’re gone, they wreck the reef and the entire area?! They’ve done it to other pods, ones who thought they could hide! We’ve all heard the stories! And then the entire ocean population suffers!” Tadashi spoke out.

“Tadashi’s right, Ukai,” Daichi agreed with a nod. Shouyou nodded vigorously and let go of Kenma.

“The humans might even cause more trouble! They could accidentally call large animals to the area and change the population and wreck everything!” he exclaimed, eyes wide and tail practically vibrating and a dark, muddy orange.

“What else would you have us do?” Ukai demanded in frustration. “Fight? We don’t have nearly enough members to force back an entire group of human ships! And you all saw how well it went the other day! All they have to do is have one or two of those weird devices and make those noises again and we won’t be able to fight back!”

“What if we went to Tooru’s pod? They didn’t have trouble with the devices,” Shouyou suggested, swimming forward and facing Ukai straight on now.

“Even _if_ they agree, even with _both_ of our pods combined, it isn’t going to be enough,” Ukai stated, sounding defeated. “There’s no option but to flee.”

“You won’t have just two pods.” The statement made everyone pause. They all turned to Koutarou. His face was serious and his golden eyes had a cold, predatory gleam to them. In his hand, he gripped the worn tooth. “Keiji’s coming. He’ll bring the others.”

“What?” Ukai frowned in confusion.

“Keiji’s coming?” Shouyou asked excitedly. He grinned. “Awesome!” Kenma nodded.

“If we can get word to Nekoma, they will come too, I am sure of it,” he added. Shouyou’s tail brightened considerably. He looked to Ukai expectantly. Ukai closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Ok…just…give me a minute to think,” he grumbled. Eventually, he opened his eyes and sighed. “So, if I understand right, your pod,” he paused and pointed at Koutarou before continuing, “is on their way to help. And you,” he gestured to Kenma, “are certain your pod would assist us?” Both the other mer nodded. Ukai sighed again. “We can’t leave your pod to do all the fighting, Koutarou,” he muttered. “And if we get help from both Tooru’s pod and Nekoma…we _may_ have a chance at winning against the humans.”

“It’s not about winning,” Shouyou stated, voice calm. His eyes were wide and fixed on Ukai. Ukai blinked and stared at him. Shouyou’s tail twitched. “It’s about sending a message.” Silence surrounded them for a moment, before Kei snorted.

“Damn right it is!” Yuu cried as he swam over to Hinata and threw an arm around the smaller mer. “Let’s teach ‘em not to mess with us mer!”

“Yeah!” the other mer chorused with grins bordering on feral.

***

Keiji fidgeted with his fingers as he waited for the rest of their pod’s hunters and fighters to gather. He’d left control of the pod with Yukie. She would do well to keep everyone safe until he and Koutarou could return. Absently, his fingers strayed to the belt containing his dagger. It was decorated with various shells, stones, and even a few shark teeth. There was one tooth missing, though. He hoped Koutarou had it now.

A small cough startled Keiji out of his reverie, and he turned to see his pod’s small force of fighters assembled behind him. Keiji gave them a soft smile.

“We’re all ready to go, Keiji!” one of them announced. Keiji nodded.

“Just a few more moments, please,” he told them. They all nodded. A low wail rose through the water and Keiji glanced over their heads to see a dark shape heading toward them in the water. His smile grew.


	12. Gathering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Support arrives!

It took much less time to get a message to Nekoma and for them to send a number of mer over to Karasuno than it did for Shouyou to travel. Though Shouyou knew it was due to having to wait for injuries to heal and being chased and fighting, he still felt silly when there was support from Nekoma in merely a few days, when he’d taken weeks to get home. He forced the thoughts from his mind and entertained himself by playing with his pod members. They were still waiting for Keiji and support from Fukurodani, but according to Kenma they’d had to move further away, so Shouyou wasn’t worried. If anything, he was just eager to see Keiji again. He could tell Koutarou was too. The mer fidgeted often and would constantly glance in the direction Kenma had come from. Shouyou took it upon himself to distract Koutarou by playing games and telling him about his day after meetings about battle plans. Koutarou apparently had to go to them because he was a pod leader. Shouyou wasn’t allowed to go because he was ‘too young to fight’, which he thought was highly unfair. But he knew better than to argue with Ukai over this, so he made the best of it.

It was evening now, with the Red Moon two weeks away. The light filtering down into the water was dim. Shouyou fidgeted outside Ukai’s home, which is where the pod leaders met for discussions and deciding tactics. He stacked small stones up until they lost balance and fell, then he would start again. After the third time of doing this, a shadow fell over him. Shouyou glanced up and a grin split his face as he saw Koutarou.

“Hey, hey, Shouyou,” the other mer greeted him.

“Koutarou! Come on, let’s go play! I played tag all day with Yuu and Tobio and then I found this really cool looking fish! I gotta show you!” Shouyou exclaimed as he grabbed Koutarou’s arm and started to drag him along.

“Oh yeah? That sounds great!” Koutarou answered with a laugh. He followed along easily. Shouyou chattered the entire way.

“I was arguing with Tobio again. He told me there’s no way we saw Leviathans. He says they’re a myth! So I shoved him. Then he pushed me and we were fighting. Then Koushi and Daichi split us up, but they took _his_ side!”

“Well, that’s silly! He wasn’t even there, what would he know?” Koutarou replied, though his smile remained. He shook his head.

“Exactly! He still doesn’t believe me about the Sea Dragons either! He says it must’ve been big sharks or whales or a giant squid.”

“That’s ridiculous! So, what happened next?”

“Well we had to apologize. And then I went and waited for you,” Shouyou responded honestly. Koutarou laughed.

“You are adorable,” he chuckled as he ruffled the younger mer’s hair. Shouyou grinned up at him. They reached the reef and Shouyou started searching.

“It was somewhere around here…” he mumbled as he looked around. Koutarou chuckled quietly to himself as he watched Shouyou search. “…maybe this way?” Shouyou flitted back and forth, a little flash of orange in the dark waters. “…no…”

“Oi, Shouyou, what are you doing?” a voice called. Both of them turned to see Tobio and Yuu swimming toward them. It was Tobio who’d spoken.

“Looking for that fish we found earlier!” came the reply. “I want to show Koutarou!”

“Shou,” Yuu stated with a headshake, “I don’t think it’s there anymore.”

“Yeah, dumbass, it wasn’t on that side!” Tobio added.

“No, that’s not…” Yuu started, but the other two were already searching on the other side of the reef. Koutarou laughed.

“Well it could’ve moved to that other part, too!” Shouyou was protesting. Yuu shook his head.

“Honestly, thank you for helping him. There’s no way he would’ve made it on his own,” he thanked Koutarou. Koutarou blinked and the smile fell off his face. “Shouyou isn’t…he doesn’t…think things through always, and he can get panicked and just rush into things or freeze up.”

Koutarou tilted his head. “You’re welcome,” he answered. He continued to watch Shouyou and Tobio argue as they swim over the reef. He smiled. “Shouyou’s…a good mer.” Yuu nodded.

“He is. He thinks about others and tries to help them in his own way,” he replied with a fond smile. Koutarou was about to answer when a sound caught his attention. He froze and his ear fins twitched, straining to listen. Yuu frowned. “What is it? What’s wrong?” Koutarou didn’t answer. Tobio and Shouyou had noticed him go still and were approaching now.

“What’s wrong with him?” Tobio asked as they drew near. Shouyou took in Koutarou’s stance and cocked his head to listen. He didn’t hear anything, but Koutarou did. The older mer shot off abruptly.

“Koutarou!” Yuu called. “What’s wrong?! Where are you going?” Shouyou stared after his friend for a moment. He continued to listen. He could hear the water, the waves, the scuttling of some nearby shell-fish…there! In the distance, the way Koutarou was swimming. He heard a noise he instantly recognized, not because he’d heard it often, but because it was terrifying.

“Koutarou! Come back!” Shouyou cried as he darted after his friend.

“Shouyou!” both Yuu and Tobio shouted as they latched onto his arms and stopped him.

“No! NO! NO! NO!” Shouyou shrieked as he struggled against his pod members’ grips. “Koutarou! Come back! You’ll _die_!”

“Shouyou! Calm down!” Yuu ordered. “What was that noise? What are you talking about?”

“He’s gonna _die_! You gotta let me go help him!!” Shouyou ignored his questions.

“I’m not letting you go anywhere!” Yuu snapped. Tobio grunted in affirmation.

“No! We need to stop him! The Leviathan’s will get him!” Shouyou screeched as he flailed about.

“Leviathans?” Yuu’s grip loosened as he looked at Shouyou, confused. “Those are a my-” The rest of his sentence was lost to Shouyou, who ripped himself free of the other two and swam after Koutarou. “Wait! Shouyou! Stop!” Shouyou did not stop.

He flew through the water, focusing on nothing but getting to his friend. Koutarou was fast, but Shouyou was faster. That much had become apparent in their multiple games of tag. He was gaining. Not as fast as he would’ve liked, but gaining all the same.

“Koutarou!” he called. “Koutarou! Stop! You’ll die by yourself!!”

***

Kenma and Tetsurou were playing with Natsu in Shouyou’s home. The little merchild was giggling and chasing Tetsurou as he circled around the den. His swimming was still a bit lop-sided and unsteady, so for the time being he was confined to his friend’s home. Kenma only aided in the battle plans as far as providing insight from his vision. Afterward, he always went straight back to Shouyou’s home to spend the evening with Tetsurou.

After days of swimming around the small den, Tetsurou’s balance had improved somewhat and he’d learned how to aid himself by using the walls and floor. Which is why Kenma was surprised when he stumbled and crashed into the wall. Natsu shrieked with laughter and tumbled into him. He caught her with one hand, but his face was serious, eyes locked on the den entrance.

“Kenma,” Tetsurou spoke suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” Kenma asked. Tetsurou adjusted his grip on Natsu.

“Not sure. But something’s…off. I would go, but…” he trailed off as he looked at his missing fin with a frustrated scowl.

“Tell me where,” Kenma stated. “I’ll go. You stay with Natsu.” Tetsurou nodded.

***

“Shouyou! Shouyou! Come back here!” Yuu chased after him, Tobio close behind him. Shouyou’s tail was pale, and he drew further and further away. “SHOU!”

Shouyou ignored him. Yuu could see Koutarou’s shape in the distance. Neither one of them seemed to be slowing. Yuu’s tail burned and his gills flared, searching for oxygen.

“Shouyou, you dumbass!” Tobio shouted from behind him. Yuu didn’t have the energy to spend chiding him on his language. Instead, he ducked his head and forced his tail to move faster.

“Yuu! Yuu!” another voice called faintly behind them. Yuu’s ears flicked back and he glanced over his shoulder. Behind him he could see Asahi, with several other mer. “Yuu! Wait! There’s something there!” Yuu slowed to a brief pause.

“Shou…Shouyou’s in trouble!” he called back. He didn’t wait for a response before he turned back and chased after the younger mer. Koutarou had stopped and Shouyou finally reached him. They both stared straight ahead. Yuu forced himself to continue with Tobio beside him. As they drew closer, Yuu noticed a dark shape in the water in front of them. He stopped abruptly and stared, wide-eyed at the largest creature he’d ever seen. The shape was moving, approaching them. Koutarou and Shouyou waited in front of it.

“Shou!” Tobio started forward, but Yuu caught him.

“Tobio, no! We don’t know what that is!” he grunted as he struggled to keep hold of him. The other mer reached them, and Yuu recognized Asahi, Shouyou’s friend Kenma, Daichi, Koushi, and a handful of mer from the Nekoma Pod.

“What’s going on?” Daichi demanded as they drew to a stop, staring at the massive shadowy figure approaching. The creature was massive, with many tentacles, a massive mouth full of sharp teeth, and large glowing eyes. Koutarou and Shouyou looked like minnows in front of it.

“Shouyou!” Tobio screeched, trying once more to get to his pod member.

The creature stopped and opened its mouth to unleash a low, rumbling sound. Yuu’s fins bristled and his heart leapt into his throat. His tail paled and he tensed his arms tighter around Tobio. A ringing silence followed the sound and no one moved.

Abruptly, a similar sound came from behind the creature, slightly higher in pitch, just as powerful. A movement above the creature caught their eyes. A shape, a mer, a bit smaller than Koutarou, swam from behind the creature’s head and descended in front of it. He was beautiful, eyes glowing, head surrounded by a crown of dark curls. His tail was long and graceful, with flowing fins. Behind him were several other mer, each with a tail coloured black and white, each armed to the teeth. Yuu held his breath, eyes wide. Even Tobio had stilled.

“KEEEEEIIIIIIIIJIIIIIIIII!” Koutarou shouted and with a whoop he shot forward and threw his arms around the beautiful mer.

“What…” Yuu whispered, his grip on Tobio loosened. He turned to the others behind him, who all had confused faces…except for Kenma. Kenma was…smiling? “What’s going on, Kenma?” Yuu asked. Kenma tore his eyes from the sight in front of him and looked at Yuu.

“It’s Fukurodani,” he answered simply.

“That explains who the mer are…but what in the hell is _that thing_?” Daichi demanded.

Kenma cocked his head and regarded the creature. “That would be one of the Leviathan,” he replied seriously.

“Wha…bu-but, they’re myths!” Tobio exclaimed. Kenma shook his head.

“No. They’re real. Trust me, we fought three of them,” he retorted, voice uncharacteristically sharp.

“You fought them?! But then…what are they doing so close to that one?!” Yuu exclaimed.

“Keiji has it under control. Fukurodani uses beast-speak to control the creatures in the ocean.”

“He…what…? I thought there were limits to what they could do?” Daichi clarified, eyes still locked on the massive beast.

“As far as I know, Keiji is the only one who can manipulate the Leviathans,” Kenma acknowledged. He started forward.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Asahi asked.

“I’m going to greet my friends,” came the simple answer as he continued to swim toward the new group of mer. Yuu watched him for a moment before he followed suit and swam toward Shouyou. Tobio followed close to him.

“Wait! Yuu,” Asahi called. Tobio kept swimming, but Yuu stopped and turned.

“Asahi, they’ve come to help us. We should at least greet them,” he told him. Then he grinned. “Besides, Shou is there and he’s fine, so we should all be safe, right?” He flipped around and continued swimming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I just had this image the entire time I've been writing of Akaashi being all badass and cool and beautiful and majestic in front of what others would consider to be a monster, just 100% calm. I'm really hoping that came across here. He is one of my faves in the series. 
> 
> I was also thinking...I have this whole backstory for him and Koutarou and how they met and got together....and I kind of wanted to post it, sort of as a prequel...so that may happen in the near future. 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading! I appreciate all comments, feedback, and kudos sent my way.


	13. Blood in the Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mer fight for their lives and their homes. But all is not what it seems...

Shouyou’s eyes shone as he flitted excitedly about Keiji and Koutarou. He was helping to lead the Fukurodani Pod to Karasuno. His own podmates had introduced themselves, and were now following along warily, sneaking glances at the leviathan behind them.

“- And then! There was another Sea Dragon! And it chased us and chased us! We got past another ship! And the ship was there and it was full of more stupid humans and they did one of those awful fake calls and then the dragon came back! And it was tearing into things and we barely ex-es-ec-escaped! Except Tetsurou got one of his fins torn off and it was scary and there was lots of blood and I thought he was gonna die but then we were found by the pod that lives near mine! And they brought him in and saved him! And then there were more ships and fighting and we went to help and it was my pod!” Shouyou chattered nonstop. Keiji smiled gently and nodded as he spoke. “I’m so glad you guys are here! Kenma said you were coming and I got so excited! And so did Koutarou! He kept getting more and more excited and he was always looking in the mornings to see if he could see you!”

“Oh, was he?” Keiji asked with a small smile. He raised an eyebrow at Koutarou who immediately blushed.

“I-I wasn’t _that_ anxious about it,” he protested and looked away. Keiji laughed lightly. Shouyou’s eyes widened and Koutarou snuck a glance back at his lover.

“Wow! Your laugh is so pretty!” Shouyou exclaimed. Now it was Keiji’s turn to blush.

“Ah. Thank you,” he mumbled.

“Shouyou! What is going on here?” a voice demanded. They all stopped and their attention was turned to Ukai, who faced them with a glare. Shouyou shot forward and answered.

“This is the Fukurodani Pod!” he announced brightly. He gestured to Keiji. “This is Keiji! He’s my friend! He helped me too when I was lost.”

Ukai glanced over the mer gathered and gave a short nod to Koutarou and Keiji. He narrowed his eyes at the large creature behind them. “What in the hell is _that thing_?” he hissed. Shouyou followed his gaze.

“That’s the leviathan. Keiji said she’d help us,” Shouyou replied, unfazed.

“Wha- how?”

“…it’s a bit complicated,” Daichi answered, coming forward and laying a hand on Shouyou’s shoulder to prevent him from interrupting. “To our understanding, though, the beast answers to Keiji, and he asked for it’s help.”

“_Her_ help,” Shouyou corrected helpfully. Daichi glanced down at him and then at Keiji, who had stiffened.

“_Her_ help,” he amended and Keiji relaxed.

Ukai’s glare intensified and he crossed his arms. “I’ve never heard of a mer who could control leviathans, not even from Furukodani, before.”

Keiji met his stare evenly and stated “and you never will again.” The calm of his voice sent shivers down Shouyou’s spine and he tilted his head. He was about to ask what Keiji meant, but another voice interrupted.

“I can vouch for them, Keiji saved our asses against three of those things,” Tetsurou called from behind Ukai. Koutarou and Kenma snapped their gazes to him.

“What are you doing out here?!” Kenma demanded. He didn’t wait for an answer but darted forward to support Tetsurou, who was barely maintaining his balance. Tetsurou ignored him and continued talking to Ukai.

“He can control three of them at once, and make them all back down when they were about to kill us. It’s safe to say he can manage this one, too.”

Keiji nodded his thanks. Tobio folded his arms and glanced back at the leviathan distrustfully, but Koushi put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from doing anything more. Ukai chewed on his bottom lip as he mulled the situation over.

“I still don’t feel comfortable having…her…around the pod,” he stated finally. Keiji eyed him coolly.

“Either she stays, or our pod leaves,” Koutarou answered calmly. Shouyou looked up at them with big eyes.

“No! Keiji! You can’t go, you just got here! I wanna talk more and…and…and the humans are coming!” Keiji didn’t look at him. Shouyou turned to Koutarou. “Koutarou?” Koutarou didn’t acknowledge him, but stared Ukai down as well. Ukai swallowed.

“Fine,” he muttered. “She can come. But she has to stay away from the pod members. I don’t want them all scared over this. They’re already tense.” Keiji and Koutarou both relaxed.

“Understood,” Keiji responded, and his tone was much friendlier.

***

“With the arrival of more Fukurodani Pod members, I think we should recap what we’ve previously discussed at our meetings,” Ukai began. There was a murmur of agreement. Keiji nodded next to Koutarou. “So far, we have a force of about thirty-eight members. Nekoma, with their foresight, are to remain more out of the fight than others, and will be our guides. The Aobajohsai Pod members have telepathy, so it will be their responsibility to relay messages from Nekoma to the front-line fighters. Tooru, you’ve said that telepathy also allows your pod to resist the noises the humans use to confuse or fight us?”

“Yeah, with the telepathy, we have to focus on ‘inner’ voices and make them louder than ‘outer sounds’,” Tooru explained. “As a result, my pod is excellent at blocking out unnecessary sounds. Those ones they use to mess with mer don’t really affect us.”

“Then we’ll need a few of them on the front lines as well, to take out any devices the humans may use to try and scramble our hearing,” Ukai declared. Tooru nodded. “That means most of our fighters will be from Karasuno and Furukodani…”

“We’ll have the fish and whales as well,” Koutarou interjected with a grin. His golden eyes gleamed. “And Keiji brought one of the leviathans to help us.”

“As long as they are…controlled,” Ukai stated carefully. Keiji eyed him.

“Don’t worry,” he replied. “Our pod is fully capable of managing this.” Ukai nodded.

“Right.”

***

The next several days, Shouyou felt incredibly lonely. Everyone else was preparing for the humans, to defend as best as they could. He was deemed too young to fight, much to his dismay, and was stuck taking care of his younger sister. He felt his frustrations mount as even Tetsurou got to take part in preparations, despite being injured. Along with foresight, the Nekoma mer were good at strategizing. They helped decide the best use of resources. Now, it was time. The humans would be here soon, and he wasn’t even going to get to see any of the fight. Shouyou pouted as he listlessly swam around their small den with his little sister giggling and chasing behind him.

After a while, Natsuo tired herself out and curled up for a nap. Shouyou was tempted to go out and find his friends, but he also knew he couldn’t leave his little sister by herself, so he settled in beside her to wait. At least he knew Tobio and Kei and Tadashi were in the same situation. Even though they were older, none of them were actually adults yet and were told they were too young to participate. This small comfort encouraged him to close his eyes and relax, even though he knew his other friends were risking their lives not too far away.

_I’ll put my trust in them,_ he thought.

***

Everything had been going well. The ships had come when Kenma said they would. The humans had even let out a fake call to lure the mer out. Not that they really needed to, with the pods already waiting. Tetsurou watched from his vantage point. Being that his foresight was different from Kenma’s, in that he couldn’t see visions, he needed to be able to see his target in order to understand what his affinity was telling him. He watched the Aobajohsai mer disable the human’s sound machines easily. Next to him, Tooru, from that pod, smirked proudly. Tetsurou also couldn’t help a small smile as he watched the remaining mer engage with the humans. Fish and whales bumped the ships, and the mer were easily dodging all harpoons and nets. Keiji hadn’t had to call the leviathan yet. Tetsurou tried not to shudder at the thought of the creature. He wasn’t too keen on them, having had to fight off three, but he was glad there was one on their side.

An uneasy feeling brought him away from his momentary distraction and back to the battle at hand. He tensed and scanned the scene, trying to lock onto the trouble he sensed. He felt a shiver travel down his back and his fins raised unconsciously, trying to ward off the threat he couldn’t see.

Humans had entered the water, armed with close-range weapons, and connected to their ships by ropes and cords. _That’s not it,_ he thought. The ships were moving, still advancing slowly. _No, that’s not it either…we expected that. We can manage it. _His gut screamed at him and Tetsurou shook his head. He ran through everything he could think of. Harpoons. _No, knew that already._ Sound devices. _Taken care of._ Surprise attacks?_ None. The humans are all in front of us. _Nets. _No…_ Tetsurou’s eyes widened suddenly.

“Tooru! The ships! They’re moving,” he stated abruptly. Tooru blinked and glanced over at the ships.

“Yes…but we figured they wouldn’t stop immediately. We’re – ”

“No! Look! Between them! See those lines? They go down, farther than the other equipment!” He insisted, pointing. Tooru squinted.

“An-anchors?”

“Then how are they moving? It’s…it’s gotta be a net, or-or some kind of trap! You need to warn them!”

Tooru nodded. He closed his eyes. Abruptly, Tetsurou heard his voice, yet Tooru’s lips did not move. _The two advancing ships are dangerous. Be on the lookout for a trap. They have cables running deep between them._

To any outsider, the reaction would have looked choreographed, but Tetsurou knew it was just all the mer responding to Tooru’s words. All of them redirected themselves away from the advancing ships. Tetsurou chewed on his lips as he watched.

“Tell Keiji it’s time,” he stated finally. Tooru glanced at him.

“Are you sure?” he asked. Tetsurou nodded.

“Whatever they have there, be it a net…or something else, I don’t know. I know very little about what the humans could or could not have. All I know is, if it needs two ships, then it’s big. And we need something bigger. And stronger. And more violent.”

“Alright.” Tooru closed his eyes again for a brief moment. Tetsurou looked through the hodge-podge of merpeople and humans and fish, and saw Keiji shoot them a glance, before he turned to Koutarou on his left. There seemed to be an exchange, then Keiji retreated. He swam away from the fight, his eyes already glowing before he opened his mouth and let out a long, low call. He repeated it almost immediately, then waited. Tetsurou couldn’t help the small smirk he had as he heard the creature answer.

***

Keiji dodged the harpoon shot at him from the humans’ ship. Angrily, he slashed at the cable with his knife, but he did little to damage it. He turned around again just as a human, in one of their ridiculous suits, lunged at him with their own knives drawn. He dodged again and hissed as he fended them off. Next to him, Koutarou was guiding the whales to knock into the ships that were advancing. Keiji growled, determined to keep this human away from his mate. He lunged forward and stabbed his knife directly into the human’s stomach. With a triumphant shriek, he slashed downward and yanked his knife out, opening the human’s body up and allowing their innards to float out into the water as they struggled. Around him, the water was red, mostly from the blood of humans stupid enough to enter the water.

_Keiji._ Keiji paused as he recognized Tooru’s voice in his head again. He was addressing him directly. _Keiji, it’s time._ Keiji looked up and saw in the distance two shapes watching the fight. Tooru and Tetsurou. Quickly, he turned to Koutarou.

“Kou!” he called. Koutarou didn’t move, but his eyes met Keiji’s as he continued to direct the creatures around them. “Kou, I’m going to call her. You’ll be on your own for a bit.” Koutarou nodded once, then he grabbed his weapon off his belt. Without another word, Keiji shot off to the edge of the battle. Controlling other creatures and directing them actually took a good deal of concentration. The larger the creature, the more difficult. He hoped Koutarou wouldn’t focus too much on the creatures while he wasn’t there to defend his blind spots.

Once he reached a place far enough he wouldn’t have to worry about fighting for his life, Keiji stopped. He opened his mouth and spoke, in the beast’s own tongue, “come to me. I need you now!” The call echoed through the ocean and rolled across the sandy floor. “Come to me! I need you!” he called again.

He didn’t wait for more than a moment before hearing a reply. His ears perked up and he nodded in satisfaction. The reply was low and soft, so as to confuse the humans if they had any listening devices. As it rolled through the water, all the mer fighting paused. Then they retreated, or so it would seem to an outsider. Keiji knew, they were just making room.

Seconds later, a loud, screeching roar sounded from behind the ships. Sand erupted upward, obscuring the view. Tentacles shot out of the mess and latched on to the nearest ship. Another screech came from below, and the ship was being dragged down. There were shouts, screams, and splashes, as humans and their assortment of weapons fell from the ship. The other ships turned their attentions to the beast, shooting at her and attacking her from multiple angles. Keiji winced as he heard her cry out when one of her tentacles was pierced.

Ahead of him, he could see Ukai, from Karasuno Pod, grin as the ship was destroyed. He led a forward charge with a yell, attacking the other humans, who now had their attention on the leviathan. In a moment of clarity, Keiji remembered what happened to his pod’s home. He used the beast’s language again and called out “Watch out for the fuel tanks! If it ruptures, there will be trouble!” The reply he got was affirmative and he felt himself relax slightly. Then he threw himself back into the fight. She didn’t need more direction, he knew she’d be just fine if he left her to do the work herself.

***

Tetsurou managed a small smile as he watched the leviathan tear the ship down. His fins twitched and he itched to join in the fight. Although he was doing better with swimming, his agility was not as good as it used to be. Frustrated, he ran a hand over where his missing fin used to sit. Tooru glanced at him sympathetically and nodded. He was also still recovering from the piercing injury he’d sustained, and therefore not strong enough to join in physically. Tetsurou sighed, but continued to watch the fight. They had the upper hand, and one of the ships even seemed to be retreating.

“We’re winning,” Tooru voiced both their thoughts aloud. Tetsurou nodded. “Good.” The water in front of them swirled red, though he couldn’t tell if that was more due to the blood of the humans or the red moon. He supposed it didn’t matter. They were winning. One by one, the ships were retreating or being torn apart. Next to him, Tooru laughed. Tetsurou smiled and joined in. They were winning. Victory was theirs.

A chill ran down his spine and Tetsurou froze. His eyes widened. Something was wrong. He scanned the scene ahead of them, but no…everyone was well. There were some injuries, but every mer was alive…then what? The ships were undoubtedly retreating. The ones torn apart were no longer a threat. The leviathan was under Keiji’s control. There was no more danger here. _So why do I feel a need to protect?_ He demanded inwardly. The feeling rolled over him again, and he stiffened. Tetsurou turned to look over his shoulder. All he saw were the dark waters. _That’s right. The call that they used to ‘lure’ us out, it was a far distance from the pod. All the better for us. It announced them, and we didn’t have to fight in front of the young…_

“SHIT!” he snapped. Tooru stopped laughing abruptly and stared at him.

“What? What’s wrong?!” he demanded.

“The pod!”

“What?”

“This wasn’t…the humans weren’t…they weren’t trying to lure us out here to capture! They wanted to lure us away from the pod!”

“What?!”

“They’re after the young! The ones that can’t defend themselves as well!”

Tooru’s eyes widened. He looked back into the darkness, even though he couldn’t see the pod from here. Then he turned back to the mer who were shouting triumphantly at the last retreating ship. They were farther away than even Tetsurou and he were. “We have to warn the others,” he muttered finally.

“You do that! I’m getting a head start!”

“Wait! Your fin!”

“The others are too far away right now, you warn them, I’ll start swimming. Even as slow as I am, I can get there before they will,” Tetsurou barked back. He turned and started off. He wobbled at first but corrected himself and continued. Tooru grimaced but turned back to the fighting party and closed his eyes.

_Go back! The pod is in danger!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thanks for reading, and thank you for all your support and positive feedback! I am so happy so many people want to read the prequel I have for this. I am working hard on it and I should have the first chapter posted soon! I'm very excited :)


	14. Bait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The young mer left behind at Karasuno Pod's territory are in danger. Can Kenma, Tetsurou, and Hajime get there in time?

Shouyou was awakened by a strange sound. He couldn’t tell what it was initially, so he lay still, curled around Natsu and listened. There was nothing for a long time, long enough he figured he may have imagined it, but then…he could hear a whirring noise. _So I didn’t imagine it!_ He thought triumphantly. _But what is making that sound?_

Next to him, Natsu stirred. She sat up and looked around. “Shou, noise?” she asked, looking up at him. Shouyou put a finger to his lips and shook his head. Natsu responded by covering her mouth with both hands, eyes wide. Shouyou felt on edge. His fins flared as he lifted himself and slowly crept toward the entrance of their den. He peered out and looked around. His eyes scanned the water until he found what was out of place. He could see a figure swimming around. The darkness made it difficult to determine who it was, but he was certain everyone who was of age was out fighting off the humans. The figure didn’t look anything like any of the younger mer in his pod. Cautiously, Shouyou inched out of his den and closer to the figure drifting around. Its movements were odd, not fluid at all.

_Maybe they’re injured!_ Shouyou realized. He perked up, but then hesitated. He would need help. With a nod, Shouyou turned and shot off to get Tobio, Kei, and Tadashi.

***

Natsu watched as Shouyou swam out of the den. Curious, she crept toward the entrance to watch. She saw her brother turn this way and that, scanning the area. Finally, he stopped. Natsu tilted her head and squinted, trying to see what her brother saw. Her brother turned and swam away, but Natsu didn’t really pay any more attention to him.

Farther away from her brother, there was a shadow that was swimming. It was turning around and around. Natsu tilted her head. It wasn’t swimming smoothly like her brother. The swimming reminded her of Tetsu…her brother’s friend. He swam funny because he was missing a fin. Natsu perked up. He said he had to go away a little, but he would be back to play. He must be back to play. Excited, Natsu made her way out of the den. She wasn’t allowed out without someone else, but Tetsu was someone else, surely he counted.

***

Kei and Tadashi were curled up together. They slept at each other’s dens often. Tonight, they were in Kei’s home. And they were rudely awakened by a loud shout.

“Kei! Tadashi! You guys have to help us!” a voice cried and a blur of orange hurtled into their den. Tadashi leapt up, awake and wide-eyed. Kei grunted and drew himself up. Shouyou clung to Tadashi’s waist, with Tobio floating in the den entrance. “Hurry! There’s someone, I think they’re hurt!”

“Wh-what?!” Tadashi exclaimed. “What do you mean? All the fighters should be far away from here!”

“But there’s someone there! I saw! So did Tobio, right?” Shouyou turned to Tobio with a pleading gaze.

“Yeah, I saw,” Tobio agreed with a firm nod. “They’re swimming weirdly. We think they’re hurt.”

“…Did you _ask_ if they were hurt?” Kei asked with a glare. Shouyou looked up at him. The darkness in the water made his face difficult to see, but he could see fear in his eyes.

“I didn’t…because I don’t recognize them. They’re not from here. And I don’t think they’re from any of the pods that came to see us,” he replied quietly.

“Huh, so you’re not completely stupid,” Kei muttered. Shouyou’s expression changed to a glare.

“Shut up!” He let go of Tadashi. “Are you gonna help us or not?”

Kei opened his mouth, but Tadashi put a hand on his shoulder and spoke instead. “We’ll help. Show us where this mer is.” Tobio nodded.

“Right!” Shouyou declared. “Follow us!” He darted out the entrance without waiting for a response. Kei grumbled under his breath, but Tadashi smacked his shoulder and swam past him, following Shouyou and Tobio. Kei sighed and swam after them.

Instantly, he could see what Shouyou and Tobio meant. He could see a figure, but it was dark and too far away to make out any distinguishing characteristics. The mer was moving stiffly and awkwardly, as if they could only bend so much, and they kept turning about and circling the area…as if they were lost. It honestly reminded him of when they were younger and they led fish around by dangling bait in front of them….Kei stopped swimming.

“Wait!” he called. The other three stopped. “It’s not a merperson!”

“But how can you say that?! Look at them,” Shouyou protested. Tobio nodded. Kei shook his head.

“It’s not moving naturally! It’s a fake!” he insisted. Something else caught his eye and he knew he was right. “Look!” he pointed. There was a line, a chord, barely visible, attached to the swimming figure. The others looked and Tadashi gasped.

“It’s a trap!” he whispered. Kei nodded.

“We should just ignore it. When the others come back, they will deal with it. If we do anything, we might get caught,” he stated.

Tobio tilted his head as he watched the bait swimming now. “That makes sense.” Even Shouyou was nodding. Kei felt himself relax slightly.

_If even those two idiots understand, _he thought, _then only the really little ones are in danger of getting caught up, and they should all be asleep._ He was about to turn around and head back to his den when he heard Shouyou cry out.

“Natsu!”

Kei whipped around to look. Sure enough, there was a flash of something small and orange swimming toward the bait. Shouyou took off faster than Kei had ever seen before.

“Shouyou!” Tobio called and he sprinted after his friend. Tadashi made a move to follow, but Kei grabbed his shoulder.

“Don’t!” he shouted.

Tadashi turned to him. “Kei! They’re our friends!”

“Going toward that thing is…is…suicide! We gotta figure something out from a distance!” Kei gripped Tadashi’s shoulder harder. “We can’t rush into this! If there’s bait, then there’s a trap!”

“But!”

“No! We can’t rush into this! We have to…to…augh!” Kei growled in frustration. He tried to think through every possibility, but his mind was turning and turning, and he couldn’t find anything. His eyes darted everywhere, but he could see no solution that didn’t involve getting closer. Tadashi was watching him, waiting. He could feel the pressure increasing and his head felt dizzy. There was no way he could come up with a safer solution, not in this state of mind. If he was calmer. But he didn’t have time for that! “Fine!” Kei shouted finally and he let go of Tadashi. “Let’s go!” He raced toward the other three mer, Tadashi hot on his tail.

***

Tetsurou gasped for oxygen, gills flaring open. It was hard to keep up this pace, when he’d been out of commission for weeks and was missing a fin on top of it all, so he had to work extra hard to maintain his balance. But he pushed forward. He couldn’t afford to stall. Karasuno Pod’s young mer were in danger. Images of Shouyou and Natsu flashed through his mind and Tetsurou grit his teeth. He kept swimming. He hoped to hell that Kenma was on his way, too. He’d hung back more, as he couldn’t be directly in battle with the potential for his visions to render him helpless.

Pain shot through his tail and Tetsurou cried out. It was cramping from trying to compensate for his balance. “Fuck!” he shouted as his tail seized. He started to sink, without the ability to regulate his balance with his fins and tail. “Auggh!”

Arms slid under his and lifted him up. “Geez, you’re heavy,” a rough voice muttered next to his ear. Tetsurou turned his head to see Hajime, from Aobajohsai, behind him. _Then, that means…_ He turned his head frantically until he caught sight of Kenma, who’d been partnered with Hajime, the way he’d been grouped with Tooru.

“Y-you two…” Tetsurou gasped, but his voice trailed off as another cramp rippled through his tail.

“Easy, there,” Hajime stated. He grunted and adjusted his grip on Tetsurou. Kenma started to help straighten his tail.

“How…weren’t you on your way…to…”

“Karasuno?” Hajime finished for him. Tetsurou gritted his teeth as more pain shot through his tail and nodded. “Right before we got that message, your friend Kenma had a vision. He said there was trouble back at the Pod, and then we heard Tooru, but then he had another vision right away that you were coming. He said you needed help.” Hajime surveyed the mer he was holding. “Guess he was right.”

Tetsurou glared. “Don’t look down on me, dammit,” he snapped. The pain in his tail subsided and he wrenched away from Hajime, able to support himself again. Hajime held his hands up.

“Not what I meant, I’m sorry,” he apologized. Then he looked up toward Karasuno’s Pod. “We should get going, though. If they’re in trouble, we need to help.” Kenma nodded. He squeezed Tetsurou’s hand briefly.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Tetsurou agreed. Hajime threw him a glance as they started swimming again.

“You able to keep up?”

“I am. I have to be.”

***

“Natsu! Stop!” Shouyou shouted. He could hear Tobio behind him, also shouting. “Natsu! Natsu!” Natsu was only a few centimeters from the bait now. She was staring at it, head tilted, confused. “NATSU!!!” Startled, Natsu turned to her brother’s voice. Shouyou was closer now. He could see the horrible thing he’d _thought_ was a mer. It was stiff and heavy-looking, with no details like scales or gills or even facial features. In fact, it had no face at all. Where it should have had a mouth, eyes, and a nose, there was a gaping black surface. The bait turned to him, as if it could see him through that black surface, and Shouyou fought back a shiver. “Natsu! Come here!” Natsu stared at the humans’ bait again.

“Natsu!” Tobio yelled, having finally caught up to Shouyou. They were hovering a few meters away from Natsu and the thing that was not a mer. “Come to your brother!” A whirring sound came from the bait, and the black surface projected from its face, whirring, turning, focusing on them. Shouyou fought the urge to back up. He needed Natsu first. A hand clasped his shoulder.

“You…you…_crazy idiots!_” Kei gasped. Tadashi was right behind him. “We don’t know what exactly that thing is! If there’s bait, there’s always a trap! What were you going to do if that…thing attacked you!”

“We have to save Natsu!” Shouyou snapped.

“I know that! But we can’t save her if we are in danger too!” Kei retorted. Shouyou felt his ears flatten in shame and he looked down.

“I…but…”

Kei sighed. “Just, think more. Now, is Natsu going to come to us?” They all turned back to Natsu, who remained just in front of the bait. A sudden creaking noise caught all their attention, and all four of them looked around rapidly. Kei looked up and snarled. He’d failed to take in the whole situation, in his haste. “They’re above us!” he snapped.

“And we’re surrounded,” Tadashi added on as he grabbed Kei’s arm. “We have to get out!”

All around them, edges of a large net, tightly woven, were lifting from the ocean floor. “Shit!” Tobio cursed. Kei and Tadashi backed away from the bait, but Shouyou shot forward. He scooped up Natsu and continued toward the other edge of the net. If he could just get there… But the net rose faster than he thought, and soon they were all trapped in it, steadily rising.

“Damn!” Kei shouted. He spun around, glaring at the netting. Shouyou’s heart was in his throat. He clung to Natsu.

“What do we do?” he asked, terrified.

Tobio swallowed and his eyes darted around, nervously. Tadashi shook his head. Kei growled and lunged at the net.

“We have to cut it,” he barked at the other three.

“With what?!” Tadashi looked around. “There’s nothing here to cut with!”

“Use your claws. I know you all can do it,” Kei replied with a growl. He grabbed part of the net. “It’s the only way we can escape. Natsu isn’t old enough to change her size yet, and besides, Shouyou is the only one who would actually be able to become small enough to fit through these holes. Now, let’s go already!” Tadashi and Tobio nodded. They joined Kei and began sawing at the netting with their nails, sharpened from their affinity.

Shouyou adjusted Natsu so his hands were free. “Hold onto me, Natsu. I’m gonna help.” Natsu nodded and did as she was told. The four of them sawed desperately at the netting. Shouyou grunted as one of his caught in the fibres and tore pulled. He tried to pull back, but his nail was stuck. With a screech, he yanked his hand away, ripping the nail off his middle finger. Blood plumed up in the water around his hand. Tobio and Tadashi paused to stare at him with wide eyes.

“Keep going! We can fix that later!” Kei shouted. Shouyou hissed and flexed his finger. The other two nodded and went back to their sawing. The net was steadily rising, the top of it already breaking the surface of the water. Their movements became faster, frantic. Shouyou’s finger throbbed, but he bit his lip and concentrated on cutting through the netting. He was nearly through the thick material when his head was suddenly above water.

He gasped and choked, struggling to make the transition between water and air. Frantically, he tried to duck down and keep Natsu submerged. She was still young. She would not survive this shock. He felt a hand on his back and turned his head to see Kei, also struggling to breathe, pushing him down, trying to help him shield Natsu. More hands joined. Tadashi and Tobio. Shouyou tried to convey with his eyes his gratitude. He continued to cut at the net in front of him, desperately hoping he could at least get a hole big enough for Natsu. They were a jumble of limbs, fins, and bodies, with the bait bumping against them inside the net. Shouyou cut and cut and cut at the net, but his heart fell as the last of the water drained out of it. Beneath him, Natsu gasped. She choked and coughed and started to shake.

A screech tore out of his throat and Shouyou redoubled his efforts, but he knew Natsu wouldn’t make it. He was too slow. He felt the familiar burning sensation of tears coming to his eyes. The net jolted downward, and Shouyou glanced down in surprise. Hands gripped the net. Webbed hands. A face was just below the water, contorted in rage. Two more sets of hands grabbed the net. There was a creaking noise and Shouyou dared a glance up at the humans’ pulley contraption. It had stopped moving. He looked back down in time to see a bone knife flash above the water and start sawing through the net. He held Natsu tightly as she gasped and seized in his arms. Finally! There was a hole in the net. It wasn’t big, but it was big enough. Shouyou shoved Natsu through it. She slid through it and into the waiting arms below.

He would’ve sighed in relief, if he were able to breathe. Instead, Shouyou put all his efforts into focusing on becoming smaller. He felt his body shift and change, until he was small enough to slip through the hole in the net. He allowed himself to grow on the way through, stretching the hole for the others behind him, until he was his normal size. He hit the water with a splash. The cool water felt good on his skin. Shouyou glanced around until his eyes landed on Natsu, unconscious, but breathing, cradled in someone’s arms. He raised his gaze to their face, his heart soaring when he saw it was Tetsurou. Then his eyes fluttered shut and he drifted downward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! And don't worry, I would never kill off Natsu. I may be a monster for the angst I put characters through, but even I have some boundaries...
> 
> So, writing the prequel is a lot of fun, and I'm really excited to share it. Chapter one will be posted now, under the title A Powerful Beauty. Hope you enjoy it!
> 
> As always, thank you to everyone who reads my work! I really appreciate the Kudos, and your guys' comments make my day!


	15. Goodbye is Not the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the battle is fought, there is another, harder battle. Saying goodbye. Shouyou does his best to bid his friends farewell. But he knows, goodbye is not forever.

Kenma hissed as he saw the net close around the Karasuno Pod members. “Shouyou!” he shouted. With a determined glare, he forced himself to speed up. Next to him, Hajime and Tetsurou sped up as well. They were all struggling for oxygen, having sprinted the entire way here, but none of them dared to slow down. Kenma bit his lip. Tetsurou struggled especially. He glanced over to make sure his mate wasn’t overdoing it…but the fierce glare on Tetsurou’s face kept him from mentioning anything.

At last, they reached the net. It was just above the water. Being smaller had its advantages. Kenma was able to speed up and launch himself upward with more ease than the other two. He gripped the net tightly. His face was still under water and he curved his tail to drag the net down. He snarled as he felt resistance. “No you don’t! Not Shouyou! Not Natsu! I won’t let you!” he snarled, even though he knew the humans wouldn’t be able to hear him. Two more sets of hands grabbed the net and pulled. Hajime whipped out his bone knife and started sawing through the net while Kenma and Tetsurou held it taught.

With a triumphant growl, his knife tore through the netting. Kenma felt his spirits rise. He could see Natsu’s face, scared and frantic and he felt anger surge through his veins, directed at the humans. Natsu slipped through the hole, guided by Shouyou’s hands, right into Tetsurou’s waiting arms. The three of them backed away from the net.

Shouyou tumbled through soon after, making the hole larger as he changed size partway through. He looked around frantically until he saw Natsu. He smiled, relief flashing across his face, then his eyes rolled back into his head. Kenma shot forward and wrapped his arms around his friend, guiding him gently to the ocean floor. Tobio was next, followed by Tadashi, and lastly, Kei. Each of them gasped and hissed as their bodies switched back to breathing water from air.

Kenma cradled Shouyou and rested the unconscious mer’s head on his shoulder. Above him, he heard a groaning sound. He glanced up to see the humans’ ship was in the process of turning. He growled. Tetsurou and Hajime followed his gaze and snarled as well.

“Oh no you don’t!” Hajime growled. He launched himself at the ship’s rudder and tugged on it. His webbed fingers slid on the metal and the ship wrenched away from him. He hissed and tried to follow after it, but it continued to move away from him.

Kenma held Shouyou closer. “Hajime!” he called. “Hajime, stop! You can’t go after them by yourself, and none of us are able to help right now.” He nodded his head to Tetsurou, who was resting on the ocean floor and cradling Natsu, and the other three Karasuno members who were all resting, having just adjusted to breathing underwater again. Hajime let out a frustrated growl, but stopped pursuing the ship. He circled back and settled next to Kenma.

Hajime nodded at Shouyou. “He alright?” his voice was gruff, but Kenma knew he was genuinely concerned.

Kenma stroked Shouyou’s hair as he looked down at the unconscious mer. “I…don’t know,” he admitted quietly. In Tetsurou’s arms, Natsu began to stir.

“Hey there, little one,” Tetsurou crooned to her. Kenma smiled slightly at the sight. A shout made his ear fins flick. He turned his face to the source of the noise, to see more mer pouring into the area. Every single one of them was out of breath. All the sea creatures had been left behind.

Karasuno’s Pod leader, Ukai, approached them. “What…what happened here?” he demanded, throwing concerned looks at the five from Karasuno. Koushi rushed over to Kenma.

“What happened to Shou? Is he ok? Why isn’t he awake?” Koushi bombarded him with questions, not even waiting for an answer before asking the next one. “Is he hurt? Where are the humans? Did they do this?” He gently pushed Shouyou’s hair out back and Kenma shifted so he could examine the younger mer’s face.

“There was a trap,” Hajime grumbled. He glared at the sand as he spoke. “The humans used bait to draw them into a trap and sprung the net up around them. We barely got to them in time.” His jaw tensed and he clenched his fist. “I tried to stop the ship…but those bastards got away!” Ukai frowned, then sighed.

“Well, I’m grateful to the three of you. My pod members were in danger and you three saved them,” he stated kindly.

“But they got away!” Hajime protested. Ukai shook his head.

“I know. But even so, we gave them a beating they’ll never forget, and we robbed them of any chance that they could say ‘it was worth it in the end’. They’ll know better than to mess with us in the future. And everyone came away alive,” he concluded. He looked up at the open water. “Though it would be nice to tear the limbs off the ones who hurt my pod,” he hissed with a wicked grin. There was a general murmur of assent from the mer behind him, from each pod. Ukai’s grin disappeared in an instant, and he was back to a neutral expression. He turned to the mer behind him. “Everyone who is injured, we need to treat injuries. The majority of the supplies are in Yachi and Kiyoko’s den. We’ll triage you in order of most urgent to least urgent and have you line up there for treatments, ok?” A nod rippled through the crowd and Ukai smiled. “Excellent. Let’s go. Kenma, Tetsurou, if you could bring Shouyou and Natsu, please.” They both nodded.

***

It was a full week before either Nekoma or Fukurodani pods were ready to return to their homes. Aobajohsai Pod had returned to their territory easily, as they were closest. Natsu had been the worst-off by far, with the shock to her very young body, but other wounds from harpoons and human weapons took time to heal as well. Once he woke, Shouyou spent all his time hovering over and caring for his little sister. Tetsurou and Kenma, as they were still staying in his den, helped out, and Keiji and Koutarou visited them each day.

Still, the time must come for all things to end. Nekoma Pod was ready to leave first. Shouyou knew it had to happen, but he felt a pain in his stomach every time he thought about it, and he was certain if he was above the water, he would be crying. He tried to smile. He tried to keep it together. But as he embraced Kenma, he felt his happy mask slip and he started to tremble.

“Shouyou?” Kenma asked softly. Shouyou pulled away, face turned down, tail pink and ears twitching.

“S-sorry,” he mumbled. “I just…don’t want you guys to go away.”

“Oi, shrimp. Don’t look so down about it,” Tetsurou chided. He tipped Shouyou’s chin up to look him in the face. “It’s not forever. We fought with you guys here. That means something. You’re our allies now. Which means you can come and visit when you want.” He gave Shouyou a lopsided grin.

Shouyou’s ears perked up. His tail brightened and his brown eyes sparkled. “Really? You mean it??!” He looked between Tetsurou and Kenma.

“Yeah! Absolutely,” Tetsurou affirmed. Kenma nodded with a smile. Shouyou grinned.

“Yes! I’ll definitely come visit!” he cried.

“You better,” Tetsurou declared, and he ruffled the younger mer’s hair before pulling him in for a quick hug.

“Hug! Hug!” Natsu cried, arms stretched up toward Tetsurou. He grinned and picked her up to spin her around in the den. He pulled her in and gave her a soft hug and then passed her to Kenma. Kenma hugged her gently and patted her hair before putting her down again.

“Well, we’ll be seeing you, then,” Tetsurou called as he and Kenma left the den. They swam to join their podmates before swimming off for their home.

***

Fukurodani’s exit was a bit different. Shouyou met them outside the pod’s home, where they were staying due to Keiji’s leviathan. The leviathan itself – _herself_ – Shouyou corrected, was actually very mild. She didn’t stir up any trouble or attempt any attacks. Shouyou found himself staring up at her before he said his goodbyes.

“Keiji,” he stated absently as he stared up at the large creature. She stared right back at him.

“Yes?” Keiji was watching him curiously.

“Can…can you tell her thank you? For helping us,” Shouyou added the last part to clarify. He glanced over at Keiji after he spoke and was surprised to see the other mer had a smile on his face.

“You can tell her. She understands us,” Keiji stated.

“O-oh.” Shouyou looked back up at the giant creature. “Um. Thank you, Ms. Leviathan.”

The leviathan regarded him for a moment, then turned her gaze to Keiji and answered with her own calls. Keiji replied. Shouyou watched, fascinated. When the exchange was done, he turned to Keiji.

“What did she say?” he asked excitedly.

“She said ‘you’re welcome’. And that she was surprised at how small you are for your age,” Keiji answered honestly.

“Eh?! I’m not small!” Shouyou pouted. Keiji smirked.

“Don’t worry about it. To her, everyone is small,” he answered. Shouyou blinked at this information and then looked up at the leviathan. He tilted his head.

“I guess that is true,” he mumbled. The leviathan let out another low rumble, this one sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Shouyou narrowed his eyes a little and did not ask Keiji to translate.

“KEEEEIJIIIIII!” Koutarou flung his arms around Keiji from behind. “Keiiijiiiii! The guys are saying we’re all ready and it’s time to go, but I DON’T WANNA!”

Keiji sighed. “Kou, we have..”

He was cut off by Shouyou. “Then stay!” he declared. “You could stay! And Ms. Leviathan can stay too!”

Keiji closed his eyes and groaned. “No, Shouyou, don’t give him any ideas.”

“We _could_ stay!” Koutarou agreed with a grin. He let go of Keiji and swooped over to Shouyou. He picked him up and spun him around. “You’re a little genius!”

The leviathan made another sound. Koutarou stopped and looked at Keiji, who looked almost affronted. He sputtered and stammered. “What- no!” he exclaimed before switching to the leviathan’s language and gesturing excitedly. Another laugh rolled out of the leviathan and Keiji pulled at his hair with his hands as he practically shouted (at least, Shouyou thought that’s what shouting would be in leviathan) at her. Shouyou looked up at Koutarou.

“…do you know what they’re saying?” he asked.

Koutarou looked down at him. “Not really,” he admitted. He grinned. “But I have a guess.” The argument between Keiji and the leviathan finally ended, with the leviathan laughing and Keiji looking very frustrated.

Keiji turned to Shouyou and Koutarou. “Say your goodbyes, Kou. We do have to go. We’ve been away from the others long enough.” Koutarou sighed, but nodded.

“I’ll see you around, Shou,” he said with a smile. Shouyou hugged him tight and nodded.

“Is..are..can I visit you guys?” Shouyou mumbled. Koutarou grinned and ruffled his hair.

“Of course you can!” he announced. Keiji nodded.

“You can visit anytime,” he agreed. Shouyou brightened. He let go of Koutarou and threw himself at Keiji for a hug. Keiji caught him and smiled gently. “Goodbye, Shou.”

Shouyou waited at the edge of his pod’s territory, waving until he couldn’t see any Fukurodani members anymore.

***

“Hey, hey, Keiiiiijiiii,” Koutarou called as they swam toward their pod’s new location. “So…what was your mother bugging you about back there?” Keiji rolled his eyes. The leviathan let out another rumbling laugh.

“I don’t know why I told her to begin with,” he began as he ran a hand through his hair, “but I was so frustrated, and annoyed with you, that frankly it’s your fault. I told her about how you tried to kidnap-slash-adopt Shouyou. So she thought it would be funny when he was telling us to stay, to tell me I ‘shouldn’t abandon my guppy and her grandchild’.” He frowned as he finished.

Koutarou burst into laughter. “Hahaha, way to go, mother-in-law! I knew you’d take my side,” he cheered. The leviathan rumbled her agreement. Keiji groaned.

“I’m regretting telling you this,” he muttered. Koutarou laughed and threw his arm around him. Keiji sighed and snuggled under Koutarou’s arm as they swam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So I'm really grateful to everyone who has been following this fic and has read it. Thanks for all the Kudos and the comments! This is the final chapter, but that doesn't mean I won't potentially add to this AU. I already have a prequel started, focusing on Keiji and Koutarou before they became a couple and the leaders of Fukurodani, so feel free to check that out! :) 
> 
> If you have any unanswered questions, I'd be happy to answer them. If the questions are in regard to Keiji's mother, please see the prequel, it will explain! :)
> 
> I hope this ended well for you guys! …this is kinda my first time writing a story where "they all lived happily ever after"...and my first time writing a story where "they all lived" in about...oh...I don't know... ten years. Seriously. All through high school and junior high anything I wrote for school had a boyfriend/girlfriend/significant other die or a family member/friend die, or the main character die, or they all die... except one short story I did in grade ten but I probably could've pulled it off if I wanted to because there was a fire in the story, and it was only like, three pages long, so I don't count it when I say ten years, I'm talking back to grade 5/6. Back to when I just liked to put my characters through immense suffering and then have them live with the consequences afterward. And even then, I had some stories where characters died. :) And I wrote my first character death when I was ten. I just pretty much jumped on the angst train one day in fifth grade and never really looked back. Like, the prompt was 'write about a dragon and knight' and I wrote about a maiden who went out in an area where there was a ferocious dragon, and a knight in the area saw her near the dragon and so he killed the dragon. But the dragon was her brother under a curse. So the maiden, consumed by grief, threw herself off the edge of a cliff and died. And the knight never understood what he did wrong. Got 100%. Probably should've got therapy. Grammar was probably good, but I can tell you right now the writing style would've been awful. Like, painful to read now. I'm talking wayyyy too much time spent describing appearances and things that didn't even matter. Like Tolkein, but...ten-year-old style, so even worse. Lol. Don't worry guys, I do like Lord of the Rings. I just feel that there is a lot of description put into trees. And also, does anyone know the purpose of Tom Bombadil in that story, other than to randomly show up and prove that the ring does not work on him, only to pass it back to Frodo and basically say "yeah but I'm not gonna leave my place to go return it...so good luck boi!" Like man. WTF. but I love it anyway. Also, I'm not trying to be arrogant by comparing myself to Tolkein, cuz obvs I'm not that great, but I just wanted to give you an idea of how I used to write. Though maybe it would be more accurate to say Hugo...because that man spent EIGHTEEN chapters telling you how holy the bishop was before we even get to the main story! Like man. There is a REASON Les Miserables is referred to as 'the brick'. Still, I love it. Um. Should probably say these are just my opinions and I'm not in any way trying to demean anyone and I don't represent AO3's opinions or whatever...I don't know, can I get in trouble for saying stuff like that? ahahaha
> 
> Sorry for the rambling. This is also my first finished fic on AO3 and I'm a little excited but a little nervous and I don't know, I just am gonna miss working on this piece, and I'm gonna miss hearing your guys' opinions on it every time I post a new chapter. I really love your feedback.
> 
> ….Aaaaanyway. If anyone made it this far in my ramblings, give yourself a pat on the back and a big hug from me. 
> 
> I don't own any of Haikyuu! or its characters. 
> 
> Prequel to 'Lost' is "A Powerful Beauty". I'm still working on it, but feel free to check it out and let me know what you think! Love you!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! :)


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